Before the Dragons Rise
by PrincessShotgun
Summary: The adventures of a grumpy Dunmer mage, and an illiterate Nord warrior. Their simple quest for books will lead them to accidentally saving the world, the recovery of powerful artifacts, and the greatest treasure of all, friendship! Not quite following the cannon story line. (Dovahkiin, some OCs, and some characters featured in Skyrim and the DLCs)
1. Chapter 1

Part 1: Strangers on the Road

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AN1: Hey guys, this is just a story I'm writing for funsies. May try to work in our main characters here into a potential future crossover. But for right now, I just wanted to write a nice simple buddies-on-an-adventure story. Please be kind with some of the liberties I've taken with the lore, I've only played Skyrim, and I'm sure I'll get some things wrong here and there.

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Danger was an accepted reality in Skyrim. Even while spring was in full bloom when the valleys, plains, and forests were painted with swaths of colorful wildflowers. As the world awoke from winter's grasp trees and underbrush regained their lively green, and creatures large and small busied themselves. To a traveler unfamiliar with Falkreak hold, unaware of the perils hiding in caves, shadows, and in plain sight at times, it would seem peaceful.

To a College educated mage, from a long line of talented mages, who had spent the last forty-odd years studying, hiring sellswords seemed the perfect precaution.

"What do you mean you're not going in?" Speaking with sharp coldness, Mivani had spun around to face her agitator, with an ever-increasing scowl. She glared up at the leader of the trio of mercenaries she had hired, an Orc with gray-green skin made almost exclusively of muscles and restrained violence.

"Exactly what I just said." The Orc replied, sounding almost bored. He towered above the dark elf, his arms crossed as he returned a glare down his nose at her. After a moment he spoke again, nodding up at the cave they stood before, "That place is haunted. Me and my men aren't going in there."

His men, two Nords with roguish features about them, dressed in dirty leather armor grunted in agreement with the Orc from their place a few feet behind.

"Oh please, it is not haunted." Scoffing, Mivani set her hands on her hips, then went on in a most matter-of-fact way to try and ease the men's worries, "It is full of necromancers. Completely different."

At her shoulder, an ethereal, shimmering spider with spindly legs clung. Its small but many eyes observed the two Nords at the Orc's back, which appeared to make the men cringe under its gaze.

The Orc continued staring down at her, behind him the Nords grumbled protests between themselves. "Lady, you're not helping your point."

"Well then let me rephrase," Deciding to speak simply, as if to idiot children, Mivani spread her hands in a gesture, one waving at the cave behind them, the other to the trio. "I'm paying you three to do a job. That job is to act as my bodyguards."

"We're still not going in there."

"It's not bloody haunted! They're necromancers, chances are we can talk to them and get what we came here for! It's not like trying to talk to those feral Forsworn who would just as soon eat us as talk to us."

"I heard that those rumors of Forsworn cannibalism weren't true." One of the Nords behind the Orc spoke up but still eyed the spider on Mivani's shoulder warily.

"No, Hafdan, those were true. The Forsworn eat their fallen enemies to gain their power." The other Nord spoke up this time.

"Gerat, you need to stop being so damned gullible. Those are just rumors, my friend."

"Well, _Hafdan_, you could do with being less condescending. And you wonder why your wife left you."

"Hey! Don't you talk about my wife! She left to join the Stormcloaks because she is a strong, patriotic Nord! She's off fighting for our freedom!"

"Oh, well then what does that make _you_?"

In the moments that the two Nord men argued among themselves, Mivani had resumed glaring at the Orc, who had closed his eyes as if to shut out the disruption his companions were causing. Finally, with a growl, he whirled around to shout at the two, "Enough, damn it! I don't give a damn who's eating who, finish this conversation later!" With his men startled to silence, the Orc spun around to face their employer, the dark elf, "And you! Me and my men ain't going into that damned cave!"

At her shoulder in response to the sudden outburst directed at its mistress, the spider hissed the Orc, showing off its ethereal fangs. Mivani remained otherwise unperturbed. She regarded him with a cool, neutral face.

"Fine. Then I will be taking back my payment and hiring someone who isn't afraid to try talking to a few feral mages." Mivani extended one hand, expecting the Orc to hand over the sack of gold she had given him not three days ago back. Instead, she was met with a short bout of cruel laughter that curled her toes to listen to. Her patience was beginning to wear thin.

"Hah. That's funny." The Orc grinned down at her with unmistakable malice before again looking back to his comrades. "Isn't that funny guys? The little elf thinks she's getting her money back!"

"Excuse me?" This time Mivani couldn't help the tone of absolute indignation that leaked into her voice.

Every day that passed since she left the College had brought worse and worse luck her way. It seemed the further south she went in Skyrim, the more the fates seemed to pile challenges on her. The latest, it seemed, was being somewhere in the middle of the forest with a gaggle of idiots. Her wanderlust had started to become overshadowed by her longing for a return to familiar surroundings; where there wasn't an ever-present threat from wildlife and unsavory characters. Was this the kind of adventure she had been seeking?

Perhaps, Mivani thought to herself, she should have been a bit more discerning when hiring mercenaries.

"You heard me! We're keeping the money, for our troubles." The Orc roared back in response. His eyes gave Mivani a once over before he reached to his back, pulling free the great iron sword from its holster. "In fact, we'll be taking the rest of your gold, and anything else of value you have!"

Behind him, the two Nords seemed to pick up the shift in the discussion, and how their duty had changed from escorting to robbery. They were not reluctant to join in, it seemed, as they didn't question their leader. The shorter of the two, the blond named Hafdan pulled a shorter sword from his hip. The other Nord had stepped back a few paces, pulling a bow from his back.

She only had a few moments, if she had to guess, and her mind ran through the situation.

Either she could give up her gold and belongings to these miserable excuses for mercenaries, or she could stand her ground.

Three against one- technically one and a half, if her arachnid familiar was counted. Which Mivani did. Never discount something that could be used to her advantage, as her father told her.

They had no issue taking on the local wolves that had threatened them, and the Orc was a skilled warrior by the way he easily handled that heavy weapon in one hand. Given this betrayal, there was also no guarantee she would be safe if she did give in to their demands.

The best Mivani could hope for was to scare them off, though she might be able to take one down if she got lucky. She decided to focus her efforts on the Orc.

If all else failed, she could always make a run for it.

"How about this," Mivani replied, maintaining a calm that didn't betray the rushed calculations in her head. "you can either return my money, or I can kill you and offer your bodies up as an offering to the feral necromancers."

"That's fine. We can pick your body apart just as easily when you're dead." The Orc moved with a grunt, raising his sword as he pressed closer to her.

Moving back to avoid the first swing, she grabbed the spider at her shoulder with both hands and hurled it. It understood her intent on defending herself and the growing annoyance at the trio she had hired.

"Oh, gods! My face! Get it off!"

In another motion, before the Orc could finish a swing at her, Mivani's fingers curled like claws at her palm. Ice, cold as the winds in the dead of winter, crystallized to a deadly point. When she knew it was hardened enough to not shatter upon impact she hurled it forward, where it found its home in the Orc's chest. He stumbled back at the force of the blow, and for a long moment stared down at the still-frozen chunk sticking from his flesh.

"You bitch!" The Orc roared back, absolutely enraged. His eyes practically glowed with growing fury, as he began rushing towards Mivani. This time he had stopped fooling around, and she began to fear that she had made a dreadful miscalculation.

She barely had time to cast the spell again, this time one in each hand, a stronger variant that was particularly draining. In the split-second Mivani was focusing on the spell, she spared a glance at the Nord in the background that wasn't rolling on the ground under attack from her familiar. He was readying an arrow in his bow when he suddenly grunted, an arrow lodged into his neck.

From the right of the path, a rather large elk leaped, letting out a distressed honking-scream, and crashed into the Orc. Mivani gave a moment of pause, the spell for icy spears hanging in her hands waiting for the chance to be unleashed and causing a chill to go up her arms.

The elk tussled ungracefully with its legs for a moment before it managed to get upright and bound off at full speed back into the forest. On the ground, the Orc appeared to have been thoroughly stunned by the surprise clash with the local wildlife.

The Nord that had been hit with an arrow was struggling on the ground making gurgled noises of distress as he bled out, while the other that her spider familiar was fighting had scampered up a tree, his face swelling from half a dozen bites.

A lucky turn of events, Mivani noted. Before she chanced to finish off the Orc, another figure bounded out of the forest, the same direction that the elk had come from. A woman, easily a few inches taller than Mivani herself, dressed in clanking steel armor accented with bits of fur, leaped from the small hill to cross the path. Another Nord, she noted with some annoyance, this one with striking golden hair tied back in several braids she'd seen of the Skyrim people.

"Dammit! Get back here!" Where first this new woman shouted, in frustration, she skidded to a stop at the sight she had stumbled across. She immediately frowned, and lowered the longbow she had been wielding, her eyes lingering on Hafdan with the arrow in his throat. "Oh, gods! I'm so sorry!"

"Hafdan? Hafdan!" From up in the tree, where near the base Mivani's spider hissed threateningly, Gerat yelled down at the scene below. "You killed Hafdan!"

"I'm sorry! I was aiming for the elk!" The woman shouted back up the tree. She looked between the man in the tree and the one she had shot and made a vague gesture at the later. "He's still moving, he might be okay?" Before she could finish kneeling, the Nord gave a final shutter and went still.

"Hafdan!" Geralt again cried from the branches of the tree, momentarily distracted from the spider currently climbing up to get him. "He is not okay! You killed him!"

It was at this point that the woman, this random hunter who tilted the tables of luck in Mivani's favor, seemed to give a good look to the others in the area. The blond looked again at the Nord in the tree, then turn to the wounded Orc who was easing himself up from the ground with his sword, and then finally to Mivani.

When the women's' eyes met, Mivani visibly winced, and she allowed the spell in her hands to fizzle, drawing back the energy into herself. Magic users weren't looked upon well in Skyrim, especially by the native Nords. She didn't want to get into more trouble than she had already found. The simple people of Skyrim were racist enough, doubly so to magic users.

"What is going on here?" The woman asked with a glance at the Orc and then the Nord in the tree. She didn't wait for a reply before looking back at Mivani, "Are you alright? Do you need help?"

"I. Well..." Mivani struggled to answer. She didn't necessarily want to beg for help from a stranger.

"Walk away stranger, this is none of your business." The Orc, Yolgrok, growled as he got to his feet. He turned to look at the stranger, who stood firm with a matching scowl.

"No. You walk away." The woman frowned deeper and glanced Yolgrok in a once-over. Her gaze lingered on the shard of ice in his chest.

Yolgrok didn't respond for a moment, and then all at once he cursed, spat on the ground, and once again growled in reply. "Screw this!" The grip he had on his sword tightened as he pulled it up, and swung it with at the Nord woman.

She easily ducked out of the way, and in a smooth motion dropped her bow to the ground as she rolled out of the way of another swing. In the space of a breath, she had drawn her sword, a smaller blade than what Yolgrok wielded, and parried away another attack. It was clear the Nord had superior skill and dexterity in how she danced out of the way of attacks and landed a few of her own in response, but the Orc and his massive sword were not to be trifled with.

Mivani shook herself free of her moment of shock. She spared a glance at the tree where her familiar closed in on the other of the mercenaries. In her mind's eye, she could see the man clutching a branch, trying to keep a hold, and mentally had the spider hold its attack, for now. If he made a move, it would attack.

"Ah! Excuse me!" On the ground before her, the Nord was holding off Yolgrok's blade with her own. She was kneeling, holding up the flat side of the sword, in a struggle of strength against the Orc's great sword. "A little help?"

"Oh. Right." Mivani didn't waste time in raising her hands again, pulling the magicka needed for twin daggers of ice, and thrusting her arms forward to launch the attack. Sharp like daggers, deadly as winter, aimed a subject of dear hatred.

The spells hit their mark on Yolgrok, both in his side, enough to make him grunt and nearly lose balance. Seeing her chance, the random woman took her chance to force the Orc away with a kick to his chest. Thrown further off balance, he had no defense against the sword thrust through his chest, in the center of the still-evident bootprint.

A tense moment passed before Yolgrok's sword clattered to the ground, and the light of light went from his eyes. His body slumped to the ground, sliding off the sword with a wet _shlick_.

Pulling a rag from a pouch at her side, the woman started absently cleaning the sheen of blood off her weapon but turned to address Mivani with that same tone of concern as before. "Are you alright?"

"I, well, yes." Mivani tried to remember what had been in that pamphlet passed around the dorms, mostly among the elves, how to keep in good relations with Nords. Not doing magic around them was one of the top items. Being polite was another. She straightened herself, "Thank you. I appreciate the assistance."

"Not at all, I'm happy to help." The woman smiled warmly, seeming genuine until she suddenly looked concerned. "Wasn't there another one?"

The two women exchanged a look before, in unison, they turned their attention back to the tree that Gerat still clung. Clinging to the branch with all for limbs, he ventured to kick weakly at the spider familiar guarding him but stopped as soon as he noticed that he was slipping. Whether he noticed that he was being watched closely, or the silence, he finally looked back down.

His eyes went to Yolgrok's body, the Nord woman, Mivani, back to the Orc, and settled looking between the two women. He smiled down at them, nervously, "Ah-ha, so, um... I see you took care of him, eh?"

"Aye. We did." The Nord woman nodded but didn't take her gaze off Gerat.

"So. I should probably be going then." Gerat continued to eye them as if waiting for confirmation that they wouldn't attack him when he made a run for it.

"Wait." Taking a step towards the tree with a renewed scowl, Mivani spoke up, "I believe you were the one holding onto my money, weren't you?" Gerat froze in place again and stuttered out something that wasn't quite a response. Mivani cut him off before he had the chance to annoy her further, "I'm going to give you one last chance to return it."

Up in the tree, Gerat looked conflicted about the implied threat. He looked again between the two women. After several moments of hesitation, Mivani's spider familiar, on her command, skittered closer by a few inches and hissed. "Damnit! Okay! Call off the spider, you mad woman! You'll have your money back!"

While managing to balance himself on the branch, one foot raised to keep the insubstantial spider at bay if need be, Gerat managed to reach back to a pouch on his belt to fish something out. The pouch he hurled landed some paces in front of Mivani with a soft metallic clink from the coins inside. With a slight nod and mental nudge, she called the spider back down from the tree, which reluctantly left him alone.

In short order, he had dropped from the tree and made a run for it back towards the main road. The two women were left alone, with an awkward silence between them. A disposition that Mivani would describe as sunny.

The exchange could have gone better, Mivani thought to herself, with a measure of annoyance. It would have been better if they hadn't reneged on their agreement.

"Were those men trying to rob you?" The other woman asked as Mivani retrieved her gold and tucked the sack away in the folds of her rob, close to her side.

"In a manner of speaking." She was reluctant to go into details, but looking back to the other woman felt she had only a genuine sense of concern about the matter. Mivani sighed, crossed her arms, and looked back to the cave that was her original destination. "They're mercenaries. I paid them to act as my bodyguards, and they decided that they were going to be scared off by a cave."

"My, that's unfortunate." The Nord woman nodded and leaned to one side to peer at the cave's entrance. She looked like she wanted to ask what lay inside, but refrained from prying.

"Indeed." Mivani eyed the other woman with a thought growing in her mind.

It was entirely possible that any necromancers- which if her sources were right, there were most definitely a small band of necromancers in that cave- could be perfectly harmless if approached correctly. Unfortunately, as if taking the example of much of Skyrim's wildlife and roving groups of bandits, many non-college affiliated mages were not exactly civilized.

Having a skilled warrior at her back wouldn't go amiss. If this one turned out the same as Yolgrok's troupe, it would be easier to kill off one betraying Nord than a trio.

"This may be a bit forward, but you wouldn't be interested in a bit of mercenary work, would you?" Mivani uncrossed her arms at this point, not wanting to show the wrong body language for this kind of exchange.

"Oh?" The other woman blinked in looking back at Mivani. She blinked again in thought, but eventually cautiously asked, "... Depends, what's in the cave?"

"Hm? Oh, well," it was Mivani's turn to feel awkward and uncomfortable at the line of questioning. These Nords typically didn't like magic users. Their reactions ranged from simple dislike to outright hatred to crippling fear. She decided to chance it while trying, and she suspected failing, to sound as casual as possible, "I believe that, in this cave, is a small band of mages who may or may not participate in... certain schools of magic deemed unsavory by the population at large. Specifically conjuration, with a special focus on those forces which manipulate and control previously-living matter."

The other woman maintained her gaze, without a response, as if waiting for further explanation. Mivani sighed to herself, and decided to be a bit more clear, "... I believe the colloquial term for such mages is necromancers."

"Oh! Necromancers!" The other woman suddenly smiled in understanding. She nodded, "I was worried there were trolls in there. I'm not a fan of trolls. Too many eyes."

"I suppose no one likes trolls..." Mivani was slow to respond, unsure if she could take that as agreement or not. "So, would you be interested, or...?"

The other woman grinned and stuck out a hand, which Mivani was hesitant to extend her own to accept, to clasp hands around one another's wrists. This woman had a grip like iron but seemed otherwise trustworthy. "Aye, I am. Reyna Wolfsbane, at your service."

"Well, Reyna, it's a pleasure to meet you." She tried to smile with her greeting but felt that it was a tight-lipped professional gesture that formed on her face. Not nearly as warm as this Reyna came off. A moment later she awkwardly offered her own name, "You cmay call me Mivani."

"So, do you want to head into the cave now?" Reyna had her hand on the hilt of her sword and nodded towards the entrance to the cavern.

The thought struck Mivani that she had just met this person, just hired her as a mercenary, and the random woman was immediately willing to dive into cave exploring. They knew next to nothing about each other. A suddenly paranoid train of thought had Mivani wondering if she could put such trust in a random stranger met by chance. This Reyna didn't even know why they were to go into the cave, what they were looking for, or what exactly to expect.

"Actually," Mivani started, not entirely sure what she wanted. At the very least she needed better assurance that Reyna wouldn't stab her in the back like Yolgrok's crew. Something more reliable than a gut feeling. "I'd like to take a minute to go over a few things."

"Oh, alright. What things did you want to talk about?" Reyna didn't seem to be off-put by this, just genuinely curious.

At Mivani's insistence, they took a break off the side of the path, away from the fresh corpses, sat on some boulders across from one another. If this was a more civilized situation, Mivani would have preferred to be sat at a desk, or at least a table, but she made do.

"Is this your first time working as a sellsword?" Mivani asked while writing as well and as fast as she could over the parchment balanced on her lap. Occasionally she glanced up to her new companion, who sat more casually with one foot propped up on the opposite knee.

"No, I have done mercenary work in the past. Usually guarding merchants and such on their travels." While she answered Reyna watched Mivani, with something between confusion and curiosity. "Though the group I use to work for also took on bounties for bandits and bears, things like that."

"Are you still affiliated with your mercenary group?" Mivani asked without looking up from the contract she was trying to put together. It was rough, but she hoped they would have a better understanding of everything if it was laid out for Reyna. Yolgrok's men distinctly ignored any information aside from her need for hired swords at her side.

"Well... No. I am not." Across from her Reyna's voice dipped down to something like shame. This made Mivani sit up with notice and truly look at the other woman. Reyna picked at some of the furs that lined her boots, her eyes cast down, and that warm, friendly glow she had exhibited extinguished.

When the other woman didn't offer a further explanation, Mivani carefully picked up the conversation. "Would you mind if I ask why not?"

"They are all dead." No great elaborate tale. Reyna looked further discomforted, but finally met Mivani's eyes again with a solemn gaze. "Trolls."

"Ah. I'm sorry." For several moments that stretched an agonizing while, that was all Mivani could muster up to say. Reyna offered no further explanation of what happened to her previous companions.

Mivani instantly felt uncomfortable with the idea of trying to comfort a stranger. Hell, she felt uncomfortable trying to comfort people she was rather well acquainted with. She decided to avoid it. Best to change topics back to the task at hand.

"Right. Well, Reyna, I wanted to make sure you understand the sort of task I am undertaking, and the things I will require of you." Mivani finished off the last few lines of the contract and offered the page to Reyna.

The other woman blinked down at the paper and paused for a moment before taking it in her hand. While Reyna looked over it, Mivani took the opportunity to replace her writing materials inside her bag, except ink and quill, giving the other woman enough time to read the document. It wasn't very long, the language wasn't too complicated legalese, and shouldn't have taken very long to read.

"Ah, yes, this is a little bit embarrassing..." Reyna started with a sheepish smile. She looked between Mivani, the contract, and then Mivani again. "I have to confess, I'm not very good at... Um..."

It took a moment for Mivani to understand before the meaning struck her. She tried to be tactful, "At... Reading?"

"Yes." Reyna winced a little at the admission and gave a little shrug. "The place I was raised in didn't place education very high on the list of priorities."

"Well... Alright. Okay." Nodding mostly to herself, Mivani marveled at the idea that there were still places in Skyrim that were so far behind. While staring at Reyna, she had to remind herself not to be too judgmental. It wasn't like she was going to need the Nord to write research papers. "Right. Well. I'm hiring you for your loyalty and skill with the sword, so that shouldn't be much of a problem." She was trying to convince herself as much as she wished to ease any awkwardness out of the situation.

Making comments about backward, illiterate Nords would not win her any friends here.

Still, Reyna's smile brightened, her good humor fully returned. "I can promise what I lack in reading I more than make up for in skills in combat. And, I don't scare as easily as..." She looked back towards the path where the dead Orc and Nord still lay. "As some others do."

"... Even if we come across trolls?"

"If you need me to face trolls, I will face them."

"Good. Well, this contract essentially outlines that you, Reyna Wolfsbane, will accompany and guard me during my travels. We may be dealing with some dangers which, as stated in the contract, you are willing to take primary responsibility for dispatching- This includes, but is not limited to, bandits, wolves, bears, trolls, hostile magic users, hostile Daedra worshipers, and mud crabs. If this first expedition into the cave works out and we are successful in finding what I'm looking for, we can consider working together in the future. Pay is 10 septims a week, and the college provides an allowance for food and board at inns if we're able to find them."

"That all sounds quite fair to me." Reyna nodded in understanding. "What exactly are you looking to find in the cave?"

"A book." Offering a freshly-inked quill to Reyna, Mivani nodded at the contract the woman still held. "Go ahead and sign the contract."

"Ah, yes." At the very least it appeared she had little problem signing her name, in what looked like rough handwriting, near the bottom. Handing back the paper and quill, Reyna ventured to ask, "So, you're a mage at the magic college?"

It always bothered her when people, strangers, asked too many questions. Mivani managed to restrain her annoyance, reminding herself that this woman was not being hostile, not to her, as many of the denizens of Skyrim had been. "I am. I was a student there for a few decades, and moved into a teaching role."

"Oh, that is quite impressive. Why are you not there, now, teaching?"

"I'm taking a sabbatical from the position." Mivani was short with her answer this time and didn't offer further details. It wouldn't make a great impression to say that she considered the students too challenging to teach, that she didn't have the patience or temperament to help them along in learning. "I had been there for years, the idea of traveling to retrieve rare literature for our library seemed exciting." That part, at least, she could be honest about.

Mivani signed her name at the bottom of the contract as well and gave the ink enough time to dry before rolling it up and placing it with the rest of her effects. It may not have been an entirely legally binding document, but considering she was employing an illiterate Nord, she hoped that it would scare any sense that was needed. Having a contract in place was one thing Mivani hadn't gotten around to doing with Yolgrok and his men, nor the opportunity for them to fully listen. She hoped to not have another repeat of today.

"I can understand getting struck with a bit of wanderlust. The same happened to me when I was young." This time sounding nostalgic, Reyna looked off into the forest that surrounded them, her eyes searching. "I was starting as a blacksmith's apprentice. I would have had a safe and secure life at the forge. But, I always dreamed of striking out and seeking adventure. That there was more I could do with myself aside from staying put and doing the same thing day and day again until I day. So, I made myself a sword and struck out with a trading caravan as part of their guard."

The way Reyna spoke of it was charming, though seemed misguided. How far could she expect to go in life without formal education, abandoning training in a stable career? Mivani recalled how well this woman fought with a sword and reconsidered mentioning any direct criticism.

"Hm. Well, I can appreciate the initiative it must have taken to make such a change in your life." There, that didn't sound sarcastic or judgmental. Mivani nodded, mostly to herself. There was no reason why she couldn't get along with the locals. She just had to make a bit of an effort. "Alright then, let's get on with this. Now, when we get in there, I did want to try and talk to any necromancers we come across first, before resorting to violence."

"Are you sure about that?" Reyna stood with Mivani, stretching her neck and arms as if preparing for battle. "Most mages I've come across in caves are usually more hostile than not."

"No, no, I'm sure. We'll try talking to them first..." While she wanted to be firm, and ideally get her book without violence, Mivani knew she couldn't entirely discount the idea that the mages inside might react defensively. "Though, it probably would be a good idea if you kept your sword ready. Can never tell with the mages in Skyrim..."


	2. Chapter 2

Part 2: The Cave

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Reyna realized that it had been a long while since she had traveled with a companion at her side. After what had happened with her last crew- some details she fudged out of shame- she had been shy about teaming up with others. She didn't want to risk any more lives by chance. The world was full of dangers, and while her friends had been strong, that alone wasn't enough.

But the elf, Mivani, she was smarter than her former companions. She was a college-trained mage, and those magic wielders were holders to all sorts of knowledge. Many people in Skyrim thought it was dangerous, the kind of things mages knew. After seeing the things that she had seen, Reyna believed there was a time and a place for such knowledge.

They had eventually gotten into the cave itself, to find the necromancers and, more specifically, the book that Mivani was in search of. But not before the Elf took at least half an hour clarifying a strategy for their entrance to the cave and for any mages they would likely come across. She also lectured Reyna on many pointers on interacting with whoever they would find in the cave. The advice seemed to boil down to 'be polite' and 'not to ask about the smell'.

Their eyes adjusted to the darkness and quiet, Reyna understood about the smell comment. She was no stranger to caverns, and their usual earthy, sometimes moist smell, but this was different. There was a certain note on the air, sweet and repugnant, the smell of death mixed with herbs. From behind her Mivani had summoned a small glowing orb that hovered followed them, lighting their path just as well as a torch would.

"So, when- if- we find these people, let me do the talking, alright?" Mivani whispered. The Elf seemed to have a nervous disposition, and a tendency to elaborate on most things that she said. Reyna wondered if she did this to make sure her thoughts were clearly understood by both of them, which was considerate. "Necromancers in Skyrim are often flighty things. They think that everyone is looking to persecute them for their practices. Which, honestly, they're not wrong. Most don't exactly approve of necromancy. I've met many Nords who either don't care for mages or have completely ignorant views of magic. Especially in the backwaters where people don't read or bathe... No offense."

"None taken," Reyna spoke quietly as well but didn't bother turning about to face her companion. She understood exactly what Mivani spoke of. "Many people fear what they don't understand. They have similar reactions to strange sounds in the dark."

She was trying to listen for any sign of life deeper in the cave, but could mostly hear the far-off dripping of water and the sound of their boots on the rock. They weren't trying to be stealthy, as it might imply ill intent for anyone they came across. A hundred feet or so into the cave the cavern twisted into an incline, where the warm light a fire could be seen in the distance.

"There, I think we might have found them." Now stepping up aside Reyna, Mivani looked to perk up at the prospect of finding the inhabitants of the cave. The spider at her shoulder nervously adjusted its legs, looking to be ready to jump into action if required. "I was starting to get worried that the tip I got was going to lead to a dead end."

"Let us go introduce ourselves, then." With this Reyna did not wait for a reply from her companion, but instead started down the path. The bobbing glow of mage light followed her as quickly as Mivani did, casting their shadows long across the cavern floor and sure to alert anyone ahead of their approach.

The source of the light, a torch blazing on the cave wall, came into sight, as well as someone sitting, apparently on guard. Though he was sitting it was apparent that he was tall, and weighty beneath oddly stained armor, a great ax was balanced across his knees. Just beyond the man, was a door built into a roughly-made wall. The construction was not of great quality, looking rather like stones hastily cobbled into place and secured with pieces of lumber. The scent of death and herbs was stronger down here.

Reyna remembered the advice about not mentioning the smell.

"Excuse me! Hello!" Mivani spoke up, loud enough to be heard and courteous enough to hopefully not come off as hostile.

The man in the chair reacted almost immediately to the greeting. His head, which had been angled down in a steady gaze, snapped up in their direction. Something felt off, Reyna could feel it in her bones. With unsteady movements, the man gripped his ax with both hands and managed to pull himself up- which seemed enough of a struggle to draw a long groan from him.

When he started towards them with a determined, if shuffling pace, Reyna didn't wait for him to reach them. She rushed forward, pulling her sword in a smooth motion to parry away the man's first strike. It was only when she had gotten within striking distance that she noticed- the overwhelming smell of death, the strange glow to the man's eyes and the way his skin clung to his face, pale and bruised.

He moved slowly. With poor coordination as if he was drunk or untrained in combat. It was easy to dodge out of the way of any potential attacks and allowed Reyna to get in the best strike that she could. At the right moment, he swung down and missed her, groaning with the motion, but did not have time to react when she smoothly swung her blade upwards to bury in his neck.

She had not had many occasions to face the undead but remembered a piece of advice for taking them down. Always aim for the head. The fight couldn't have lasted for more than a minute, and after the first strike, Reyna aimed another at the neck that cleaved through the spine. Only then did the man, risen from the dead, crumple to a heap that steadily turned itself to ash.

Mivani muttered a curse that sounded more annoyed than fearful. "Well... So much for a civilized introduction."

"Well, he didn't give us much choice." Reyna offered, upon turning back to her new companion, with a shrug. She scrunched her nose at the lingering scent, now primarily coming from her blade coated with blackish blood.

Before Mivani could even begin to chastise her about killing random undead, and how they were supposed to try a diplomatic approach first, the door that the now-pile-of-ashes was guarding swung open. In the threshold, with a look of surprise was what appeared to be a Breton man, who at first stared at the two women. His dark hair was slicked back, the sleeves of his dark robes cuffed up at his elbows, and in one hand holding a small kitchen knife.

"What's going on out here?!" He shouted, his eyes darting from the women to the chair near the door, and then the pile of ashes on the ground. The Breton gave a long, frustrated groan, before continuing with greater frustration, "Oh, for the love of... You! How dare you come down here!"

Well, Reyna thought to herself, at least they had managed to find a necromancer down here after all. Seemingly drawn to the further commotion, another voice perked up from the residence in the cave, this one sounding much calmer, "Cel? What's going on out there?"

For a long moment, neither of them could muster up much of a reply. Reyna looked between the Breton and the Dunmer that appeared behind him, who looked equally befuddled. Mivani was the first to answer, her discomfort clear as she stepped up to Reyna's side, "Um. Hello."

"He started it," Reyna spoke up, wanting to offer some explanation to what had happened. She felt like she had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

"_Reyna_." Snapping at her before she could offer an apology, Mivani sharply nudged her arm with an elbow. The elf tried to smile in what might be considered a cordial greeting, but it looked tight and strained with the situation. "I... Think we might have gotten off on the wrong foot here." The two mages, one glaring and one looking bewildered, continue their staring hard at Mivani now, who explained briskly. "My name is Mivani Vianeri, I'm a mage with the College of Winterhold. I was hoping we could talk for a few moments?"

There was a pause, tense and awkward, where the two mages slowly looked to one another with a mix of confusion and silently trying to work out their reaction between themselves. Mivani and Reyna stood stiffly next to each other, too unsure to move, but exchanged a glance between themselves as well. In situations similar to this, she had always seen it end in violence, as mages hiding away in caves and forests did not like being intruded upon. Reyna had never had the chance to simply try 'talking' at them.

"Well, what are you going to do to fix this mess, hmm?" The Breton asked with snippy agitation, gesturing at the ashes that used to be the undead man. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to find strong, able-bodied bodies, that are also relatively freshly dead?!"

Again, Mivani took it upon herself to reply, trying to sound apologetic. She ended up sounding quite annoyed to be yelled at by a stranger. "I _do_ apologize about your apparent guard. However, he did make the first move of aggression when we tried to greet him, and my companion here is bound by contract to ensure my safety."

"Well, maybe you shouldn't be sniffing about caves, where you have no business being! How do you suggest we rectify this situation, _college mage_?" Looking at Reyna now the necromancer pointed his knife at her with some threat. "Perhaps your friend can replace the guard you destroyed!"

"_Absolutely not_!" Mivani, shouting now, took an advancing step. At her shoulder, her spider hissed and positioned itself threateningly.

"Come now, Celdrum, there's no need to be rude." The other necromancer, the Dunmer who had up to that point been relatively quiet tried to tug his fellow back with a hand on the shoulder.

Sensing that this would likely grow into a greater argument, and in the interest of preserving what was left of civil interaction, Reyna spoke up. "There are two dead men, just outside the cave." With the necromancers' eyes back on her, she threw a thumb over her shoulder as if to emphasize her point. "They could easily replace your guard, and no one else needs to be killed."

"There, that seems like an ideal solution, right?" As if sensing the opportunity to calm the situation down, the other elf looked between the women and his companion who maintained his glare. Despite the situation, he smiled, with a hand firmly on the Breton's shoulder. "Now, was there something particular you ladies wanted?"

With a break to the tension, Mivani breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed to a degree now that a standoff no longer seemed imminent. Now she could get back to the business at hand. "Ah, yes. I am on business from the College, looking for a selection of rare books to secure for our librarian."

"One would think the College has enough books already." Celdrum, the Breton, muttered not-too-quietly.

"I heard from a source in Falkreath that your... Coven may have a copy of '_Arcana Restored'_." Mivani ignored the Breton again, who huffed a breath out of his nose and rolled his eyes. She directed the conversation to the other elf. "I was hoping that if you did have that volume, that it may be available to purchase."

"Well... I do believe we have that book..." The other elf looked thoughtful then and again exchanged a meaningful look to his companion. Wringing his hands together, he appeared worried. "Perhaps this is better discussed inside. I can make us some tea, and we can discuss this further."

In short order, they had all gathered inside the small cave-hovel, much to Celdrum's displeasure. The other necromancer, whose name they learned was Treddil, sat out a place for tea around a small table. The Breton sat opposite of the women, still glaring but this time remaining silent.

Inside the residence was cramped, with comforts installed to try and make it cozy. For someone who was not familiar with the magical arts, it came off as creepy. There were other tables on the opposite walls, cluttered with various herbs and bottles and chunks of flesh from what Reyna eyed. Next to her Mivani seemed more interested in the conversation, and gave little more than a glance to their surroundings.

"So, getting back on topic," Treddil spoke once everyone had been served a cup of tea, and set out bread and cheese in the center of the table as well. He seated himself next to Celdrum and maintained a shy smile. "We do have that book in our possession. Unfortunately, and this is quite embarrassing to bring up, we are unable to access it and the small library our coven has collected here."

"Oh? Is there a particular reason?" Mivani had effectively taken over speaking, which was fine by Reyna.

The door at the back of the residence drew her attention. Reyna was surprised she hadn't noticed it sooner among the grim décor. She suspected that it lead further back into the cave.

Treddil reluctantly went on to explain, "Well, the rest of our home is situated further into the cave. For the past few weeks, we have been unable to gain access to them."

It wasn't the door itself that drew suspicion, but rather how it was secured. There were two heavy wooden bars set across the door frame, each nailed into place as if to add greater protection. Along the edge of the door itself were small lines of glowing, which when Reyna squinted and eyed more carefully appeared to be lines of runes.

"One of ours got himself infected with vampirism."

"Yes, _thank you_ Celdrum, I was getting to that."

"You were getting there _slowly_." Celdrum rolled his eyes before looking back at their guests, "He started going crazy, trying to suck our blood and convince us that 'immortality is truly wonderful' and all that. We barely managed to escape and barricade the door."

"Is that what the runes on the door are for?" Reyna asked, pointing at the door in question.

"Yes, they are." This time Treddil answered, looking at the door and then back at Reyna. "It helps dampen the sound. Otherwise, he would be kept up all night with his screaming."

"_I'm sorry_, but one of your coven members got turn into a vampire, and your solution is to _lock_ him up behind a door? That's almost as bad as _literally sweeping him under a _rug." Joining back into the conversation with disbelief and more than a little sarcasm, Mivani set her tea down in front of her. "Do you have a plan for dealing with him, or are you going to leave him locked up? Moreover, why haven't you two _left_? I'm sure I don't have to explain how dangerous it is to stay here."

Reyna looked back at their hosts. While she wasn't as openly upset about their situation as Mivani was, she was curious.

"This is our home! We're not going to just leave because one idiot didn't get his injuries tended!" Treddil nearly shouted back, suddenly defensive about what was apparently a touchy subject. "Everyone else has already abandoned our coven. Celdrum and I refused to be forced out by a minor inconvenience!"

"Well, I'd hardly call Frieveos a _minor_ inconvenience," Celdrum muttered, but that seemed enough to remind his friend to keep his calm.

"Staying here just seems like its asking for trouble." Mivani pounced back on the subject, frowning and crossing her arms.

Reyna wondered why they had gone to the trouble of inviting them in if there was no way of accessing the book they were asking about. She eyed the door again while the collection of mages argued among themselves, straying further from the topic and now focused more on the dangers of staying here with a vampire just a door and enchantment away. In the past when working with her mercenary group there had been those that offered hospitality, only for the conversation to turn into a request. Usually clearing out local caves of bears or trolls, or retrieving a personal item that somehow found its way into a dangerous location. Sometimes even taking down local oppressors or nearby bandits that caused trouble.

Why else would Treddil invite them in for tea?

"We could take care of your vampire problem for you." Reyna cut into the conversation, that she hadn't been paying attention to for several moments. The mages fell silent and looked at her with varying degrees of surprise, none more than Mivani. "In exchange for the book."

There was silence for just a moment longer before Mivani leaned over to whisper harshly. "_Excuse me_?"

"Oh! We couldn't possibly ask that of you. But, " Jumping at the opportunity Treddil spoke up with a most hopeful smile. "If you were ladies were willing to do that, we would be eternally grateful."

"Gentlemen, give me just a moment..." At this point, Mivani turned about in her seat, and leaned over to directly address her in a hushed voice, "Reyna, what in Oblivion are you doing?"

Reyna didn't turn all the way about and tried to maintain her confidence. She lowered her voice to match that of her companion. "We're going to go in there, we're going to kill the vampire, and we're going to get this book you're looking for."

"Have _you_ ever killed a vampire before?" Mivani asked in a way that sounded like she already knew the answer.

"No, I haven't, but if its just one vampire back there, I'm sure that the two of us are more than able to take him down." Maintain confidence, Reyna reminded herself, if they were unsure then the battle would already be lost. It was mostly a matter of convincing Mivani now.

Eventually, Mivani responded with a deep frown and her eyebrows drawn tight together. "... If we get killed doing this, obviously you'll be fired."

Taking a turn at serious and severe, Reyna hardened her voice as much as she could, "Do you want your book, or not?" For a moment she wasn't sure if Mivani would end up scolding her for the suggestion or not. The elf's face went from mild shock, to annoyed, and then thoughtful.

Then, after another second of thinking, Mivani breathed a sigh out through her nose and turned back to address the necromancers again. "There is only _one_ vampire back there, correct?"

"One vampire, yes." Treddil answered with a nod.

"And possibly a half-dozen skeletons." Celdrum added in mildly as if they weren't talking about their friend-turned-vampire and the hazards of clearing out the cave beyond.

"Yes, but they shouldn't be too much trouble. Skeletons are quite fragile." Looking from his companion back to the two women, Treddil forced a nervous smile. "Though they are dexterous. You'll need to be careful."

"Oh, fine, we'll kill the stupid vampire!" Speaking up before the silence could get too oppressive, Mivani threw her hands up in a sort of defeated gesture. Then, pointing a finger between the two mages, "But I want '_Arcana Restored'_."

"Yes, yes of course! You're welcome to the book if you can get to it and deal with Frieveos." Treddil spoke up, eager to seal the deal and get the business deal with.

Mivani breathed a huffing breath through her nose again, her dissatisfaction with the whole situation written clearly on her face. She stood then suddenly, and with a look at Reyna, she nodded at the barricaded door. The restrained frustration was obvious when she spoke, not entirely to herself, "Well, come on, let's go do this."

Celdrum, who had remained quiet after their initial introduction except for his quips, had finally risen as well and busied himself at the door. He ignored the bars over the door first and worked closely with the runes that glowed along the edge. Reyna watched him, standing at Mivani's side who also stared with an air of impatience. While her companion hoped the book would be simpler to obtain, Reyna herself couldn't help but be a bit excited at the prospect of fighting a vampire. It was a foolish feeling, of course, but a challenge she had never faced before.

"Now, before you ladies leave..." Treddil had been busy over one of the tables and approached with an arm full of bottles. He stopped just before them, eyeing the ethereal spider at Mivani's shoulder. "You wouldn't happen to have anything more powerful than that spider that you can summon, do you?"

Mivani scrunched her nose up in a sort of displeased look before glancing at the spider at her should. "Should I need to, I do."

"A flame atronach would probably do nicely in this situation," Treddil noted while rearranging the bottles in his arms.

"Yes, I know." The annoyance was clear in Mivani's response, along with the glare she maintained.

"And of course if you know any fire-based destruction spells, those would be useful, too." The necromancer was clearly just trying to be helpful but came across as a bit bossy.

"Yes, thank you, I know." It was a good effort of trying to remain polite on Mivani's part. But it still earned her a reproachful look from Treddil before he handed each of them a bottle.

"Right. Well, I prepared some potions on the chance that we ever did get back there to deal with Frieveos." The first bottle, made of cheap thick glass that was common, held a blueish liquid in it. Treddil went on to explain, "These you'll want to take before going in there, to help negate any magic he'll cast at you. Ah, and these," The next bottles he handed over were smaller, the tonic contained withing a thick yellow, "well, they will be helpful on the chance that either of you are bitten, scratched, or otherwise exposed to _Sanguinare Vampiris._"

"Thank you, I hope that the yellow potion does not need to see use." Reyna smiled warmly, and put the smaller curative potion away in a sack at her side and saw that Mivani did the same.

They uncorked the bottles of blue and drank the potions down in one go. The liquid was mostly smooth, and had an overpowering taste of lavender, though it was not entirely unpleasant.

"Alright, the door is ready to be opened." Celdrum chimed in, the seals around the doors now dimmed to be nearly invisible. He started to remove the wooden bars held across the door, with a noticeable struggle.

With a little help from Reyna, who stepped up to take most of the weight of removing the bars, the door was clear.

"Only last warning for you two." Stopping them one last time, Treddil offered his last piece of advice. "Frieveos has always been a little bit... Touched. The vampirism seems to have exaggerated some eccentric attitudes."

Once the final lock was undone, the necromancers rushed them out of the door and slammed it shut behind them. The chill in the cave hit them as soon as the path behind them was secure. It was suspiciously quiet, with no breeze down the path that lead further into the cave.

Beside her Mivani visibly shivered. Whether it was from the cold, or nerves, Reyna couldn't tell. The elf whispered over harshly while staring down deeper into the cave, "I don't like this."

"We will be fine." Reyna offered her companion a smile and a hushed assurance. She took the lead in heading down the path, taking care of her footfalls to be as quiet as possible. Her sword was already drawn, and eyes adjusting to the further darkness in the cavern. "It might be best if I face him directly, and you tried to hit him from range with some spells."

Behind her, Mivani gave a small noise of acknowledgment but otherwise remained silent. The air continued to chill the further they went, with a fog gathering around their feet. The patches of glowing fungus along the walls were the only lights they had to go by until they reached the main chamber.

Where they had walked down a rough, narrow path opened to a larger stone cavern. It was significantly more spacious than the front room where they had sat for tea. Torches lined the walls, a long table was sat in the middle with enough chairs to seat half a dozen, with rotting food and stale drink still laid out. Along the walls were bookshelves, smaller tables lined with more grim decorations.

At the table, near the end furthest from them, an elf's body sat, her top half slumped over the table. Blood pooled around her head, staining her hair, while her eyes, wide and clouded over in death stared at them.

Sat at the head of the table was a man, dressed in the same black robes as the necromancers in the front room. He was lounging back, feet kicked up on the table, with his head leaned back, and his mouth hanging open.

The man fit the bill for a vampire well enough, from what they could tell at a distance. His skin was pale as a corpse, unmarred. Though perhaps the most telling details were the crust of blood around his mouth that trailed down his neck, and the sharp-looking teeth the peaked out from behind his lips.

Looking to Mivani, who had stopped beside her, Reyna exchanged a nod, an indication that they should go through with their plan. Kill the vampire, get the book. Her companion already had her hands filled with fire and stayed put as she moved closer to their intended target. She hadn't moved far into the room when the snoring abruptly stopped.

At the head of the table, Frieveos made a face, something of displeasure at being roused from his daytime slumber. In the next moment, his eyes snapped open, wide and amber and glowing, and set themselves on Reyna.

He had pulled himself quickly to sit upright as if embarrassed at being caught in such a casual state. When Frieveos spoke his sharp canines were terribly visible. "Oh, um, hello?"

Reyna, who had paused midstep, her sword at the ready and a dagger in her other hand, awkwardly replied after a moment. "Hello."

"Right. Um. Who are you?" Frieveos went on to ask slowly, as anyone would be were they suddenly woken up. Blinking himself more conscious, he looked between the two women, eyeing the fire spell in Mivani's hand and Reyna's readied weapons. His next question sounded oddly calm, though on the edge of offended, "Are you here to kill me?"

"Aye, that we are." Reyna nodded, calm as she could manage.

"_Reyna_!" Behind her Mivani whispered loudly, chiding her. "Don't engage with him!"

"What? He asked." She whispered back, sparing a look to her companion who glared with obvious vexation.

Whatever short-lived conversation they might have carried on was cut off by the growing laughter. Frieveos had stood up, his hands braced on the table as he laughed, which grew louder and harder by the second, peaking at a noise that could only be reached by madmen.

"Oooh I bet my buddies upstairs sent you down here, didn't they?" Frieveos asked with great glee despite the situation. The next moment he was laughing again, and leaned over to slap the shoulder of the woman that sat nearby. "You hear that, Nenna? These two are here to kill me!"

There was, of course, no response from the dead woman. When silence was the only answer, as well as Reyna and Mivani staring with uncertainty and confusion. Freiveos didn't seem to notice the lack of reply and laughed.

"I know! It is funny! Oh, you're such a riot, Nenna!" Frieveos was still grinning, chuckling to himself as he smoothly took up a cup set near him and took a deep drink. An instant later he spat out the drink, blackish blood staining his lips and dribbling heavily down his chin. His face twisted with disgust as he wiped at his face, and then hurled the cup away. "Ech, that's gone off..."

When he looked back to the women it was with renewed delight, he set his sights on Reyna first, amber eyes drilling into her. She felt frozen in place, dazed as she stared back, their mission momentarily forgotten. He grinned again wolfishly, leaping on top of the table to stride closer, kicking away bowls and plates as he went.

"Well, I think you'll do quite nicely."

Reyna couldn't take her eyes off him. Any previous thoughts of their mission that sent them down there melted away. The moment she realized this she internally panicked. Mivani was shouting at her, but she couldn't make out the words. They sounded as if they were being spoken from a great distance, which was ridiculous, as the elf was _right_ there.

Her senses returned to her when Frieveos' robes caught fire. He screamed in shock more than anything, "You bitch!"

"Reyna, do not look into his eyes!" Mivani shouted from behind her.

Firming her grip on her blades again Reyna gave her head a shake. Knocking aside a chair and easily jumping onto the table she met Frieveos near the center. He had just managed to slap out the flames when she made her first strike and dodged out of the worst of it. The next slash he dodged out of as well, nimble and laughing again.

The chill in the air intensified, and it was then that Reyna noticed how his hands glowed and twisted in the way mages' did when they were weaving a spell.

"You bitches!" Frieveos screeched, his voice deep with rage and madness. He lashed out at her then, lunging like a sabercat, screaming instead of roaring, one hand trying to grip her while the other poured a stream of bitingly cold air over her. "_I'll have your heads_! I'll send you back up there without your heads, and you can tell those conniving little shits to clean up their own mess!"

She had raised her sword reflexively to guard, while his hand clawed at her face. The pain of sharp nails digging into her cheek and forehead cleared any fog that had remained in her mind. That feeling of panicked, confused enchantment shifted to a rage. Reyna would not let herself be bested by a creature that would see her as _cattle_. She kicked out, her heavily booted foot meeting the soft stomach of the necromancer.

His concentration was disrupted enough to interrupt the frost spell, while he stumbled back. Reyna moved to attack again, sword coming down to slice into Frieveos' arm that just managed to raise to block. Her dagger moved to bury itself in his side, drawing a strangled cry of anger more than pain. She had been focused enough on the attacks that she didn't catch the flashes of violet that shot from Frieveos' hands.

The next moment beyond the sound of her heart beating in her ears came the sound of clattering. Mivani shouted over the noise, "Damn it all to- Skeletons incoming!"

"Can you take care of them?!" Reyna shouted back, the question punctuated by slashing Frieveos back with her sword. The blade came free from his arm, coated in dark blood.

"_I will eat your stupid hearts!_" Frieveos didn't leap at her again but instead raised both his hands to crackle with the sound of forming frost.

"Reyna, duck!" At Mivani's shout, she fell to the table in a crouch, her head tucked low. An instant later the air above and around her grew stiflingly hot, accompanied by a pained cry and the sound of a small explosion.

She chanced to look up, watching Frieveos stumble back, his robes lit with fire that licked at his face and neck while he tried to slap it out. Another blast of fire hit him, then another, while he screamed and stumbled back, though remained standing. The fabric burned away to leave him nearly naked, the pale skin underneath quickly blackening at the heat.

He still did not fall. But instead through his screams breathed another great scream, sounding of pain and rage. His body coiled before lunging, one last time, still flaming and reaching for Reyna. His movements were erratic enough that he couldn't block her blade, gripped in both hands, as it cut through his neck in an upward swing.

His screaming abruptly stopped, and his head toppled from his shoulders to land on a large platter among rotten fruits. Frieveos' body, still holding momentum, crumpled and flopped to a stop, half dangling off the table.

Reyna stayed hovering over his body, sword at the ready, waiting for any further sign of movement.

"Do you think he's dead?" She asked cautiously, her eyes not leaving Frieveos' body.

"Of course he is. You cut his head off." When Mivani spoke she was much closer, moving a chair so that Frieveos' form laid between them. She eyed the body as well, though with less suspicion.

One moment the body was whole, if missing its head, and the next all the parts were crumbling in upon themselves, turning to ash as if burned from the inside out.

"There. He's d_efinitely_ dead." Mivani confirmed mildly.

Remembering the other threats that might be waiting for them, Reyna looked about with a small degree of worry. She wiped at the blood trickling into her eye, ignoring the flesh wound for now. Both her eyes still functioned, it was not critical. "Weren't there skeletons?"

There weren't any from what she could see, but there was another woman, this one made of fire clad with blackish metal. She looked otherworldly, and the light of her flesh brightened up the room considerably. Floating, gracefully, practically swimming through the air.

"There were." Mivani didn't sound concerned anymore. She had crouched down, scrapping the ashes into a make-shift pouch out of what remained of Frieveos' robes. "When you kill the necromancer that summons them, it will release the magic that held them together."

"I see. That is good." She trusted the assessment of a college-educated mage over her own knowledge of magic. There were piles of bones not far from where Mivani had been standing, and a few more around the table. None of the bones moved, the corpse of the elf at the end of the table was still as well.

Reyna sighed, finally lowering her sword. Sitting at the edge of the table, while Mivani harvested vampire dust, she took a moment to clean the blood off her blade. After such a day, she thought, it would be time to get some supper and have a long rest.

"You should drink that potion," Mivani said suddenly as she finally stood, packing away the rough pouch into a bag on her belt. "Can't have you contracting vampirism."

"Aye, I will. You should go find your book."

"Ah, right, can't believe I nearly forgot about that." With renewed energy Mivani stepped brightened, stepping away to scan each bookshelf in turn. The flame atronach she had summoned followed closely, acting as a light bright enough to make her task easier.

Reyna tended the wounds on her face as best she could, then to the cleaning of her weapons, while listening. She kept her ears open for any sounds of any more occupants, anyone other than Mivani. The elf went nearly the full length around the room, muttering to herself, and growing increasingly frustrated by the sounds of it.

"Hah! There we are!" Mivani's voice shouted in triumph. She returned to the dining table, holding a thick leather-bound book close to her chest. She wore a rare smile of triumph, which faded some as she looked over the mess of the main hall they fought in. "I do hope that we can avoid such... Inconveniences... In the future."


	3. Chapter 3

Part Three: Ghosts

* * *

"I can't believe I've agreed to go into _another bloody cave_." Mivani huffed as they walked out of the wooden walls that surrounded Falkreath.

The guard at the gate gave them a cursory glance before going back to his guard- by way of staring off at the road and leaning against the gate. He was likely in for a long, uneventful day.

"Well, the priest did mention that he might be able to help us track down some of the books on your list." Reyna offered, not too invested in the conversation. She was busy examining the roughly-sketched map to the location they were heading. It looked like a cave, southwest of Falkreath, and was told that it should be just an hour's walk away.

After the excursion in the cave two days earlier they had made their way to Falkreath to rest. They stayed in the local inn while trying to figure out where to go next. Reyna discovered, through their conversations, that this was simply part of the Dunmer's temperament. Mivani had a tendency towards being mildly annoyed by most things. But underneath that, Reyna found her to be good company.

More so, after a couple of ales.

"Oh, that's lovely, _may_ be able to!" After throwing her arms up, Mivani seemed to retrain herself from further outbursts. She continued in a more controlled way, "He didn't mention anything about _vampires_ in this cave, did he?"

"No, there shouldn't be any vampires down here. Though there may be some bandits."

"Bandits." Mivani blew a puff of air out of her nose, crossing her arms, but continued to follow at Reyna's side. "That's not ideal, but we can take care of them easily enough."

The 'ideal' Mivani imagined Reyna had learned, was to be able to go into a shop, request the book, and purchase it outright. Given the rarity and often the nature of the books she was after, this would likely never happen. Books of the kind Mivani was looking for were more likely to be sequestered away by madmen and mages. Or already in the College's library.

"Did you think it would be an easy task?" Reyna asked as they reached the intersection of the stone path. They would need to take the path heading east until reaching another fork in the road.

The question seemed to douse any lingering irritation, for now. "Well, to be perfectly honest I'm not sure what I expected. I was less focused on the books and more focused on getting out for a while, I suppose. At the very least to get more practical experience in using magic in real-world applications."

Reyna nodded at the answer, happy that Mivani had answered at all. It was lucky that they had had time to build rapport with one another. Especially if they were going to be working together for any length of time. There needed to be some trust present in this line of work.

"Excuse me, ladies!" A man's voice called out from behind them enthusiastically, which they responded to by whipping around to face the speaker- Reyna's hand went to her sword, and Mivani's raised one of her hands out to brandish a ball of fiery energy. They paused when no man stood behind them but a large, shaggy dog, staring up at them expectantly. The dog, wagging its tail looked at each of them in turn then spoke again, "You are exactly what I was looking for!"

Next to her Mivani didn't manage to speak, but instead squinted with a mix of confusion and suspicion.

"Um, you were... Looking for us?" Reyna, almost equally confused as her companion, did manage a steady question.

"Yes! I think you two will be exactly what I need." The dog spoke again, in an odd way. It didn't look like its mouth moved except in the normal way a dog's mouth would, panting happily. The voice almost had an ethereal quality. When neither of the women spoke for a long moment, the dog spoke again. "My name's Barbas, and I think you two ladies can help me sort out a little problem of mine."

"Oh, no. No, absolutely not." Mivani, once she had regained her voice, shook her head.

"Mivani, why don't we just hear him out." When her companion had started to turn away, Reyna moved to put a hand on Mivani's arm. She lowered her voice when met with a red-eyed glare, "He is a talking, perhaps magical, dog who needs help-"

Barbas cut in briefly, "Definitely magical!"

"Definitely magical talking dog who needs help."

"I'm sorry, but have you forgotten that you're paid to help _me_, not random talkative animals we run across!" The fire in her hand since extinguished, Mivani crossed her arms again.

"Hear me out." Reyna gestured more with her hands now, as if to help guide her point home. "We helped the necromancers, you got a book. We're helping the priest, maybe you'll get more books. We help the talking dog and who knows, you might get another book."

Mivani didn't answer for a long moment, maintained her glare, and eventually sounded calmly irritated, "That's a lot of maybes and mights in your point, you know that, right?"

"Ladies, ladies! Let me explain!" Barbas interrupted again. Once he had their attention back on him, he sat down, gave a soft genuinely-dog-sounding woof, and spoke as he had, "My master and I had a bit of a falling out. We got into an argument and things got a... A little bit heated. He's kicked me out, but I'm pretty sure he'll take me back if I can find someone to settle our disagreements. That's where you two come in."

"And why would you think we'll be able, or even willing, to help you?" Mivani asked, sounding less-than curious.

"Well, despite _your_ attitude, you can put forth some well-founded arguments. And you," Barbas looked then to Reyna with the type of innocent smile that dogs pulled off best, "you smell like you genuinely enjoy helping people, and you help soften the elf's hard edges. Plus you're both strong, capable, and _apparently_ not questioning your sanity when faced with a talking dog."

Reyna, her curiosity piqued and rightly-guessed nature of helpfulness engaged looked hopefully at Mivani, who mostly still seemed annoyed. At that moment it was hard to read the elf.

As if sensing that Mivani needed tangible motivation, Barbas spoke up again, "Look, if you help me and things work out, I'll make sure that you're rewarded."

"What exactly can you reward us with? A prized bone collection or pig's ear?"

"Oh ha-ha, very funny. My master is _Clavicus Vile_. Daedric prince of wishes? As you can imagine, he's a rather important man. So, you help me, and I can make sure that you get rewarded with something worthwhile. Better than these books you're after."

With this information, Reyna felt her usual smile slip from her face. Dealing with daedra could be a dangerous business. While she did still want to help- after all who wouldn't want to help a dog?- she no longer felt as comfortable about it. When she looked back to Mivani the elf appeared to be digesting the information.

They were still standing close enough that Mivani was able to lean in close, near-whispering. "It shouldn't take too long to get the priest's journal, right?"

"It shouldn't," Reyna spoke just as quietly. "If it is just a matter of settling a disagreement, I'm sure we can take care of it quickly... But we'll need to be careful."

"Fine, we'll help you. But we are currently engaged with another task first." Mivani started, straightening herself and addressing Barbas. "Then we'll be able to assist you. Feel free to follow us in the meantime, it shouldn't take long."

Barbas let an excited bark slip, "Ah, thank you! So, where are we going first?"

"A little cave, some ways up the road." This time Reyna answered as they all turned back towards their original destination. "A priest lost his journal there, we're going to retrieve it."

"Huh, and I thought I was supposed to be the dog, but some priest has you running around playing fetch?" Barbas spoke as he trotted along at their side, the trio walking side by side by side on the road.

"My sentiments exactly." Mivani chuckled with poor humor.

It took a little more than an hour to arrive at their destination- in part because Mivani insisted on stopping every so often to collect flowers and a specific species of mushroom off fallen logs.

They arrived at the cave, the mouth at the end of a short path that slanted down from the main road. Like the last cave, they had entered there was little light aside from glowing mushrooms inside until they reached the main cavern. Torchlight glowed warmly, though it was overpowered by the beam of purple light shooting from the top of a pile of stones.

"I gotta say, girls," Barbas stared, breaking the uneasy silence as they looked over the sight in the cave. "This place is pretty creepy."

"I suppose those are the bandits we should have been expecting." Reyna ignored the dog, who took a seat next to where Mivani stood, inspecting the pile of stones, the blood that covered them, and the trio of bodies that surrounded them.

For several long moments, Mivani didn't respond, except by talking softly to herself. "Strange... It doesn't look like they died fighting, but rather killed themselves..."

They were both right, this was a strange place that they had found themselves in. With dead bodies, a locked door, everything laid out in a small camp from who-they-assumed were bandits. No signs of struggle, no evidence of combat. There was still food in a pot over a long-since burnt out campfire. It was as if they had all decided to simply kill themselves- by the smell of their corpses it couldn't have been too long ago, a day or so perhaps.

In looking around, while her companions were looking- and in Barbas' case, sniffing- at the bodies, Reyna found a few interesting things. The only door that lead further into the cave was locked behind a hearty looking door reinforced with iron. Laying next to the long-dead campfire, near a bedroll was a thin book, the sort that one might take to write notes and accounts of their day in.

Reyna assumed was that this was the journal that the priest at the local Falkreath temple had asked for. She flipped through the pages- some stained with mud, the words were written in a messy hand, even if she couldn't make out most of what it said.

"I found the priest's journal." Reyna murmured as she handed off the book to Mivani, who after shaking off her concentrated look at the stones immediately flipped through the book to confirm its contents.

She watched the elf's eyes flicked across the page, line by line. A few moments of her intense reading later, Mivani snapped the book shut in her hand and turned to pin Reyna with a look. "This isn't the priest's journal."

"It's not?"

"It's not," Mivani confirmed mildly. She gestured with the journal in her hand to the bodies laid around the bloodied stone pile. "The journal must belong to one of these poor wretches, describes their experiences. It would seem that they settled in, and became unable to leave. Something about becoming catatonic, that someone named 'Halldir' needed to take their lifeforce for himself. Then they all started offing themselves on these suspiciously glowing stones."

"Oh, well, that sounds eerie." Reyna looked back to the bloodied stones, unsure what the word 'catatonic' meant. Given the atmosphere, she wasn't surprised that the cave was haunted, in some manner, this time. "I suppose the smart thing to do would be to leave."

"Indeed." Mivani nodded once but made no move towards the exit. Instead, her eyes shifted over to the door opposite. "Or..."

Smiling, because she could only guess that curiosity had gotten the better of her companion, Reyna picked up, "Or we could knock down that door, clear this place out, and see what all the fuss is about...?"

"Oh, don't be ridiculous. It's obviously dangerous to remain here a moment longer." Snapping back with her usual attitude, Mivani still didn't take her eyes off the door. A moment later she relented, an eyebrow raised as if she had to give it more thought. "Although... You don't see something like this happening every day..."

At this point, where he had remained quiet for most of the conversation, Barbas jumped in as a loud voice of reason, "Excuse me? Are you two serious? You heard what the dead man wrote! There's some kind of ghost, or lich, draining people of their life force! And you two want to, what, take a stroll through the halls and tempt fate?"

The women exchanged a look, both clear that they wouldn't be talked down from this diversion. Mivani waved off Barbas' worries with a gesture before approaching the heavy door. "I was thinking of it as more a detour to research the magical anomalies of this place."

"-And we can see about clearing out whatever kind of spooky stuff is happening here so that it is safe for anyone else who takes shelter in this cave!" Reyna offered just as quickly. If she was being honest she wasn't purely interested in making sure this place was safe. It was a strange place and, like Mivani, her curiosity had been piqued.

"... You two are a bit crazy. You know that, right?" Barbas said this with the most disappointed look that a dog's face could express as he watched them. He still followed to sit not too far from the door as they tried to open it- only to find it to be locked. "Do either of you think that maybe the reason you feel so drawn to go deeper is part of this 'Halldir's design?"

Reyna and Mivani silently, mutually agreed to ignore Barbas' suggestion. While the wood of the door was aged, and the metal hinges and locks rusted with age, the door did not budge. They checked the surrounding area for a key, digging through the belongings of the bandits- along the way Mivani locating another journal, this one actually belonging to the priest Runil that they had been sent to find.

"Right. Let's burn it down." Mivani said suddenly, after several moments of staring at the reinforced door. She raised her hands then, fire sparking to life in her palm and around her fingers. Slamming her hands into the surface of the door, the fire flared around her hands, immediately charring the wood and setting it alight. When she stepped away the wood burned with a low flame, which spread and charred the wood in a short time.

Reyna, impatient to get beyond the door that had occupied enough of their time, stepped up and gave the barrier a firm kick. The weakened wood and metal slammed open with a clatter and shower of sparks and ashes. She waved a hand at the smoke that misted her vision, enough that she could see the way ahead. Unlike the cave it was a hallway, clearly mined out with steps and holders along the wall that held long-burnt out torches.

"We'll need to be careful. These old Nordic tomes are known for their unrestful dead." This time Reyna spoke up in a hushed voice, despite the loud entrance they undoubtedly made trying to go deeper. Unsheathing her sword, she glanced at Mivani to nod with approval to see that her companion's hands were still full of fire ready to attack.

A barking laugh drew their attention back to where Barbas was still sat. He looked between the two curiously while noting with clear sarcasm, "Really? Careful? Do either of you even know the meaning of the word?"

"Oh, don't be ridiculous." Shot back Mivani with a roll of her eyes. She gestured vaguely with a flame-baring hand. "That's what I hired Reyna for."

"Yes, we are being careful, Barbas." Reyna didn't necessarily like the idea of a dog judging them. Even if it was a magical, Daedric Prince serving dog. She held up her weapon as if to offer proof and smiled. "That is what the blades are for. In case of danger."

Barbas maintained his gaze on Reyna for a moment longer before his gaze shifted to somewhere behind her. He stood up then, ears perked forward as if a mutt that found something of interest. "Uh-huh. Yeah. I'm sure your run-of-the-mill, mundane sword will be able to take care of _him_."

Reyna followed Barbas' gaze back to the dark hallway they had just opened up. Passed where the light from the room faded a figure had appeared, glowing a faint blue. They were perhaps human, or maybe elf, their edges were soft and cloudy. It was difficult to tell whether it was a man or a woman, but their appearance came with a sudden chill to the air.

"_Foolish mortals_!" A voice boomed from the hall, such a sound that sent a freezing shock down Reyna's spine. Beside her, Mivani appeared just as confused and startled.

There was no more warning as the figure launched forward. They had a weapon, a sword, similar to the rest of them it was transparent and unnatural-looking. Reyna had the space of a second to shove Mivani out of the way and dodge out of the way of the blade as it swung down.

"You will perish and join us! Eternal servants to Lord Halldir!" They screamed, the echoing voice filling the room.

"N-No thank you!" Reyna shouted back without much thought. She had raised her sword to block another swing, and too her dismay the ghost's sword passed through her blade. There was not enough time for her to react, as the sword slashed through her shoulder and arm- leaving her armor unscathed and flesh unbroken but filling her chest with a coldness. It felt like the Skyrim winter settled behind her breast, knocking the wind from her.

Without taking a moment to recover, for fear of another attack, Reyna lashed out with her own sword. Inherently she was not an angry person, but the battle had a way of bringing out a certain rage that was otherwise untapped. She screamed against the cold in her chest, forced her limbs to move, and brought down two quick strikes against this pale stranger. It was a moment later that she noticed that her blade passed right through their body, and felt like she was hitting the air.

"Oh for the love of- _duck_!" Mivani shouted, and before Reyna could react she was knocked sideways, toppled to the ground when the sudden weight of Barbas crashed on top of her. A small explosion rang out above her, but the heat didn't reach her, but the sound of the ghost screaming with pain and rage did. Again Mivani yelled, "Right! We're leaving! Come on!"

Barbas leaped off of her, making a beeline for the exit, while Mivani grabbed her by the arm. The elf wrenched her up and half-pulled her along as they followed suit, running and trying not to trip over the rocks and uneven terrain. Behind them, the ghost screamed in rage but did not pursue them. Only once they were back outside, up the path, and on the road again did Mivani let go of Reyna's arm to hunch over and pant for air.

Normally such a short run wouldn't have even broken a sweat, but Reyna found herself exhausted, and cold despite the spring sun. She found herself blinking against the bright daylight, shivering, and holding her shoulder where the ghost had stuck her. Whatever had driven them to delve deeper into the crypt had evaporated, thankfully. The dread of what they had just faced and escaped, indeed what had taken place in the cavern, was still settling in.

"I'm glad that you two came to your senses," Barbas said lightly as he padded back to them, and gave a stern look to each woman.

"My sword passed right through him." Reyna huffed, still reeling from the not-entirely-victorious fight. She had never encountered anything that she hadn't been able to make bleed before.

"Of course it did. That was a _ghost_." Mivani stated as if it should be obvious. It was, but Reyna still maintained a look of confusion at her companion. "They lack a corporeal form. Your weapons need to be enchanted to be able to do any damage."

"Oh..." Reyna nodded as if she understood what 'corporeal' meant. She could only assume that with no body there was nothing for her sword to strike. What a damn shame. "So. _That_ cave was actually haunted."

"It would appear so, yes." Beside her, Mivani had turned to consider the entrance of the cave again. She had her arms crossed, a finger tapping her chin in thought.

"It would have been nice if the priest had warned us about that."

"Yes, it would have. Ghosts are a great deal more concerning than the bandits ever could be." Falling silent for a moment, Mivani looked to pin her eyes on Reyna next. "... Did you really have to tell him 'no thank you'?"

Considering how some sense was lost in the heat of battle, Reyna wasn't sure how to explain. She offered a smile and a shrug in place of a proper explanation. "I... Sort of panicked."

"_Hey_! I have an idea! How about you two help me instead? You won't need to face any ghosts," Barbas jumped into the conversation again, sounding on the edge of annoyed at their previous preoccupation. He then directed his gaze to Reyna, and lightly teased, "and maybe you can see about getting a better sword on the way, huh?"

Reyna frowned at that comment and looked down at the sword she still gripped in her hand. The dagger may have been something she bought, but the sword was one she made herself. It was fine iron, crafted by her own hand. While it wasn't the best blade, she couldn't stand the thought of parting with it yet. "... I like my sword. It is a good sword."

"He may have a point, Reyna. It will be made stronger if it's enchanted." While Mivani voiced her support for an upgrade, she still sounded distracted. Her gaze was still glued to the entrance of the cavern, and for a moment Reyna worried that she would need to intervene if the elf tried to go back in. Suddenly those sharp eyes were turned on her, examining her for several long seconds before Mivani stated simply, "You're shivering. What's wrong?"

"Am I? I'm just a bit cold." She hadn't noticed among their conversation that she was still just as cold as she had been in the disturbing cave. Reyna rolled and stretched her shoulder, trying to work out the muscles that felt frozen and aching, not particularly distressed. "Must have been when I got hit... By the ghost sword."

"Alright, well, shut up and hold still." Stepping closer to her Mivani raised her hands that were glowing with magic again- this spell looking different than the others she had cast before, golden-white light flicking between her fingers. Before Reyna had a chance to back away the elf grabbed her shoulder with a sturdy grip, while the other glowing hand went to her chilled breast.

The feeling of cold in her muscles suddenly flared with sharp pain, drawing a hiss from Reyna, but it quickly subsided. It felt as if ice had cracked and melted, leaving her body feeling warm and comforted. When the spell's light faded and Mivani took her hands back, she tested her arm again, finding it in good condition. "That... Is much better. Thank you."

"Yes, well, I couldn't very well have you running around with internal injuries. I might not be the most skilled in restoration, but I know a thing or two." Giving a small smile at her handiwork, Mivani sounded pleased. She turned then to give the cave a final look before settling her gaze on Barbas. "The ghosts will keep. Where was it you needed to go to?"

Now that they weren't further distracted from his quest, Barbas perked up. He looked as happy as a dog about to be given a fresh bone with how his front paws hopped about, before turning to start trotting down the road. "I have never been happier to hear someone give up on a crazy dungeon-diving adventure. Follow me, ladies."

They had enough time to make a quick stop in Falkreath to return Runil's journal. Barbas remained out of the road to wait patiently for their return- with some excuse about how he was avoiding 'a very nice but overbearing blacksmith who thought he was a regular dog'.

The priest, Runil, after some questioning, told them what he knew of Halldir's Cairn, the cave they had just vacated. It was the resting place of an ancient Nord and a talented mage who fell ages ago. After further prodding on Mivani's part- who did not appreciate walking into what she referred to as 'an anomalous deathtrap'- the priest admitted that while he had seen some of the same things in the cave, and was struck with the same terrible curiosity about what lay behind the doors, but that nothing beyond that had seemed amiss.

He hadn't seen the piles of stones glowing with an eerie purple light, nor had there been any suicidal bandits, nor persuasive feelings or arguments to stay whispering in his mind. It took some convincing to pull Mivani away from her hostile line of questioning, and the suggestion that perhaps the priest had divine protection keeping him from the same fate as the bandits.

It was lucky, Reyna thought, that she didn't need to physically pick Mivani up and carry her out of Falkreath.

Runil promised he would reach out to his sources for any of the books remaining on Mivani's list, and contact her should they be found. Eventually, they were on the road again, reunited with Barbas, and on their way to the shrine of Clavicus Vile.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Ethical Dilemmas

* * *

When Barbas had started leading them to Clavicus Vile's shrine, Mivani did not realize it would be a day's journey away. She had hoped that when he said that it was 'nearby' that that meant it would be up the road.

Instead, the journey was nearly a full day's worth of walking, fighting off bandits, trying to ignore the gawking Nords in the backwater village of Helgen, and then trekking up a mountain well passed where the road turned to a rough path. Up there the air turned wintry despite it being almost Rain's Hand.

"It has been a while since I've been this way," Reyna spoke up halfway up the mountain, following closely behind Barbas. She didn't seem fazed by the cold air and slushy snow that they trudged through. "This road leads all the way to Ivarstead, doesn't it?"

"Oh yeah, guess it does," Barbas replied his tail wagging and without knowing any better anyone might think he was a normal, happy hound. The sourceless voice was something they had grown used to, odd as it was. "But luckily we're almost there!"

"Didn't you say that _three hours ago_?" Mivani asked, rather annoyed that the journey had taken longer than anticipated. The cold didn't help her mood as she found herself shivering and pulling her robes closer about her.

Hadn't there been a student researching a modified flame cloak spell? One that would protect against the harsh Skyrim weather? Mivani made a mental note to ask about their progress the next time she checked in with the College.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know." Had Barbas been in a humanoid form she swore he would be literally waving her concerns off. They had not long reached the top of the incline when he stopped, sniffed the air with great intent. "And there's no need to chew me out more because we _are_ here!"

When Barbas bounded off Reyna and Mivani followed after him, with Reyna in a clear lead. The snowy path split off, one form heading down further the mountain path. The other path lead to the mouth of a cave- which made Mivani begin to notice the worrying pattern her life was starting to take on.

Barbas had already started trotting down into the cave while the two women stayed rooted, staring at the ground at the threshold of the cave. At her shoulder, her spider familiar chittered, an outward reflection of her own discomfort.

"Is that _blood_?" Mivani asked quietly, staring at the deep red splashed on the ground before the cave.

"Aye. I think it is." Reyna nodded beside her, which drew a groan from Mivani.

As they hadn't followed him down, Barbas reappeared at the entrance of the cave to look between the two women. "Well? Are you guys coming in, or what?"

"Is there anything going on in Haemar's Shame that we need to know about?" Standing firm with her arms crossed, Mivani aimed her glare down at the patch of blood that the hound was standing in.

"Huh? Oh. Well..." Looking to the bloody pool his paws stepped in so casually, Barbas' ears fell floppy and refused to meet Mivani's accusing gaze. He continued, quietly, "Yeah, I didn't really want to mention it on the way up here. But, there may, or may not be a tiny, itty bitty... Vampire infestation."

Mivani's reaction was immediate, hard, and cold as ice. "_Excuse you?_"

Beside her, Reyna stepped up to continue the line of questioning, though not with the same harsh tones. "Barbas, how many vampires are in there?"

"Uh... Definitely not more than a dozen?" Barbas sounded not too-sure in his reply.

Annoyed, but somehow not entirely surprised, Mivani growled at this answer. At her shoulder, the ethereal spider hissed softly in displeasure. It was entirely too tempting to turn and walk away from this adventure.

"Mivani, we have come this far. It would be shameful to turn our backs on Barbas in his hour of need now." Speaking softly, Reyna had turned to her. "Besides, you saw how easily we took down the last vampire, just the two of us. I am sure that we will be able to defeat them."

This time Mivani turned her gaze at her hired companion, who didn't recoil but instead offered her usual confident smile. Reyna's optimism was annoying, but not entirely unwelcome. Vampires were an annoyance- a dangerous one, important not to underestimate- but they were not invincible. When she framed the problem as an opportunity to practice practical applications of combat spells, the whole thing was easier to swallow.

"Fine. Fine. Let's deal with this and reunite Barbas with his master." Mivani relented with a huffed breath.

With a gesture and flash of purple glow she dismissed the spider at her shoulder, and with another motion summoned the larger, more difficult to control flame atronach to her side. Elementals were always harder to control, but significantly more useful, especially in situations like this. At her other side, Reyna had already drawn her sword and nodded to show she was ready.

"One more thing before we head in," Pausing to rummage through the various items in the bag at her side, Mivani pulled out two bottles and handed one to her companion. "Treddil was kind enough to give me the recipes for some potions before we left their hole-in-the-ground. I've recreated them as best as I could. Though, fair warning, they might not taste as nice."

With some noticeable reluctance, Reyna took the bottle, using a moment to swirl the liquid inside of it. She didn't question why the color was clearly off, or why the concoction had distinct small lumps in it and drank the potion with only minimal gagging. "It is... Not too bad... Maybe a _little_ burnt..."

"Yes, well, let that be a lesson to all of us not to drink and try to craft potions." Taking the cork from her own bottle Mivani did her best to drink the potion down without complaining. Alchemy had never been her strong suit, but aside from the taste and consistency of gravy, was sure the potion would do its job of boosting magical resistance. "Alright, let's go kill some vampires."

Barbas descended into the cavern-made-shrine first, then Reyna with her sword held ready, while Mivani herself and the floating flame atronach brought up the rear. The cave proper was somehow even colder than it was outside, the floor covered in a thicker layer of crispy snow.

In the first room, atop a raised platform, kicked back in a chair sipping straight from a bottle of mead, was a Nord man who didn't first notice their arrival. It wasn't until Reyna whistled that he was startled, fell off his chair, and took a few seconds to pull himself up to look over the railing at them. He had the swaying appearance of a drunkard.

"Hello there!" Reyna called up to him, pleasant as could be, with a little wave from her non-sword-baring hand.

The man, dressed in cheap-looking leather armor and still clinging to his bottle of mead, didn't seem to know how to respond for several moments. He settled on shouting down at them, slurring his words. "Ohhh... You-you aren't supposed to be here. Get out before I come down there!"

"My friend," Answering back, still conversational as if they weren't delving into a cave full of potentially-hostile vampires, Reyna gestured to the rest of them, "there are four of us here, and one of you. If you come down upon us, you are going to get yourself killed."

This did seem to give the guard pause, and from the look on his face, it was painful to think. He eventually settled on ignoring the sensible warning and half-jogged down the ramp to meet them- baring a sword and his bottle of mead in the other hand. When the man approached Reyna he swung first with the bottle of drink, clumsily enough that she had no problem dodging out of the way.

Reyna, thankfully, didn't hold back after the man lashed out. She first struck him with a fist wrapped around her sword's hilt, and in the next motion buried the dagger in her other hand in his chest. His body crumpled to the floor, and the party moved forward, deeper into Haemar's Shame.

The next person they encountered didn't give them a chance to even give them a chance to try a diplomatic approach- which, all things considered, Mivani thought this was a useless endeavor. As they traveled through the frosty halls they met vampire after vampire, who were often accompanied by thralls and raised corpses. Each met their end by fire and blade, some with their legs held in Barbas' jaws to keep them off-balance while Reyna fought them. Others didn't get a chance to fight directly as Mivani and the flame atronach pelted them with fiery bolts.

It was exhausting work even though Mivani herself didn't physically exert herself, she could feel the drain on her magicka. Some highlights made up for their trouble- potions to heal their wounds, a bit of gold, soul gems that she could put to good use. Surprisingly enough there were even a handful of interesting books that Reyna had no interest in, but Mivani found great delight in liberating.

"Oh! Well, this is marvelous!" Mivani chirped in a rare excited mood. They had taken a short break to catch their breath and gave Reyna a chance to clean the blood off her weapons, while she rummaged through a bookshelf. Holding an aged blue-covered tome up for inspection, she began flipping through the pages to try and confirm the contents.

"Did you find one of the books you are looking for?" Reyna looked up from the rickety chair she was sat in, her sword resting across her knees.

"Well, yes, and no, but also yes." Snapping the book shut, Mivani turned about to hold the book up for her companions to look at. The flame atronach had little interest from where it floated nearby, but Reyna and Barbas looked between her and the book as if waiting for an explanation. "Its one of '_Shalidor's Insights_'!"

"Oh. Yeah, that's neat." Barbas sounded less than enthused and didn't seem able to feign interest any longer. He trotted off a distance and occupied himself with scratching a spot behind

his ear.

Reyna, despite being illiterate and having no interest in academic pursuits, still looked interested. "So... Not a book on your list... But still a good find?"

"A _very_ _good_ find. This was written by a rather powerful Archmagus back in the first era. The College will be most interested in recovering it." Mivani looked back down to the book, flipping through the pages to admire the art and unknowable language it contained. "Urag will need to translate it before its of any use to anyone, but still."

"Then that's good." Standing then, Reyna tossed away the remains of a robe she had used to clean her blades. "See? Not a total loss, helping a magical talking dog?"

"Not a total loss, no." Frowning then as she remembered her annoyance with the situation as a whole, Mivani carefully wrapped and placed the book away in her pack. "I still think it's ridiculous that we've run into so many vampires in such a short amount of time..."

Reyna chuckled, shook her head, but offered no further comfort on the matter. Perhaps she knew better than to try and argue the point that they had been fairing quite well.

They continued deeper into the cave temple, through the narrow tunnels and cramped rooms. In one tunnel that opened up enough to house several cages, Mivani noted with interest a cheap enchanting table. There wasn't time to do anything with it now, but it was good to know one was close by.

At last, they arrived at the shrine-proper, where a handful of stronger vampires and their thralls milled about. The scenes they witnessed in the cave were disturbing enough, but Mivani had to concentrate at the battle at hand to keep from staring at the evidence of cannibalism and previous bloodshed. Their enemies were slowly whittled down, by fire and blade and Barbas' jaws.

The last of the vampires held his own, lashing out with magic and sword, screaming about how he would have their blood. By the time Reyna had struck the final blow and cleaved his head clean off his shoulders his body had already been severely burned- so much so that the hair and skin on his head had burned clean off. It was disturbing how much damage a strong enough vampire could take before falling.

It wasn't until he had fallen, headless, and self-immolated into ashes that they could relax. Without the sound of battle, their attention was finally drawn to the last moving thing in the room, sitting among piles of cracked stone. One last vampire that somehow escaped their notice wept and rocked from her place on the floor, one hand clutching a hammer that weakly hit a large chunk of what looked to have once been a statue.

There was a long awkward moment where none of them knew quite how to react. Every other vampire had been eager to fight them, while this one remained sat _crying_. Mivani felt a bit ridiculous as she approached Reyna's side, and they exchanged a glance as if trying to silently decide what to do about this.

Barbas was the first one to lose his patience, and his sourceless voice screamed louder than they had heard it before. "_What in Oblivion do you think you're doing_?!"

The vampire seemed to snap out of her crying spell then. Her hammer stopped moving as she looked between the three of them, tears staining her face and her lip quivering. She offered no reply, except to scrunch her face up and cry further.

"Are you alright?" Reyna asked this while patting Barbas on his back where his hairs had raised in anger.

"_Reyna_! Really?" Mivani took the opportunity to jab her companion with her elbow, not quite believing what this adventure was leading.

"What? Look at her. She's _crying_." Gesturing to the vampire that stared up at them with glowing eyes and a heartbroken look to her, Reyna could only shrug.

As pleasant it was to have a sellsword at her side with a conscious and sense of loyalty, Mivani was annoyed that it extended to creatures such as those they encountered.

"Oh, just kill me already. Put me out of my misery!" The vampire cried, interrupting any further argument between them. She pointed her hammer at the various broken pieces around her, half-crying and half-shouting. "I... We... The bastard never answered our prayers! No cure! Not even a snide murmur! We did the only thing we could to get back at him!"

Looking closer at the ruins around her, it appeared Mivani's first guess was right. The rubble-strewn about the room looked as though it had previously fit together to be a large statue. There was an arm not too far away, and a head rolled face-down in the snowy floor, and other bits in a pile around the vampire.

"So you _destroyed_ his statue?!" Barbas howled back at the vampire with his teeth bared despite the voice never coming from his furry muzzle. When he went to leap Reyna had to drop her sword and wrap her arms around his midsection to keep him from pouncing. "You think it's _funny_ to destroy a Daedric Lord's statue?! Huh? You think it's cute to desecrate his sacred temple like this?! You got any idea what he'll do to ya?! Huh?! Reyna, _let me at 'em!_"

"No, Barbas, you must calm down first!" Reyna managed to shout while struggling to hold the large hound. It was impressive that she could keep him in hand at all.

After a few more moments the hound did calm down, muttering angrily about how he would 'let the ones with thumbs handle this one'. Barbas trotted off some distance, sniffing about the remains of the statue and whining. The vampire was back to sniffling and staring at the two women, making the situation even more awkward than it already was.

Frowning while the vampire turned her gaze on her, Mivani nudged Reyna with her elbow again.

"Well?" Mivani whispered, exchanging a glance with her companion, who looked at her with a measure of confusion. She gestured at the vampire. "What do we do about her?"

"We... Could let her go?" Was Reyna's quiet, careful answer along with a shrug. "She's not attacking. It feels wrong to strike her down when she's so low..."

"That's just ridiculous. What if she gets loose and starts attacking people?"

"Um..." The vampire interrupted in a small voice, drawing their attention back to her. "I can still hear you..."

Crossing her arms again at the rude interruption, Mivani pinned the vampire with a reproachful look. "Well, good for you for having functioning ears. I don't suppose you have anything helpful to add to the conversation, do you?"

"Please... I can't live like this anymore... Please..." The vampire sobbed, looking calmly distraught. She continued softly crying as she laid her head down on a length of the statue that looked like it used to be a leg, her hands spread and held up in a sign of supplication. "Please... Have mercy..."

They exchanged another look between them, Mivani feeling unsure what they were meant to do. The easy answer was to kill the crying vampire with great prejudice. Though it also somehow felt... Wrong. Mivani didn't get much more of a chance to internally debate the ethics of such things when she noticed Reyna's somber and determined look. The Nord moved quickly and surely, raising her sword with both hands on the grip to bring it down on the vampire's neck.

The vampire beheaded, her body sizzled to ashes in a matter of seconds. It took some effort for Mivani to clear the surprise off her face. What else had she expected them to do in this cave? Kill vampires, and reunite Barbas with his master.

"Well, that's settled, I suppose," Mivani said quietly to herself. What had she expected when she left the college? She wasn't sure anymore. She reminded herself of this tangent they had found themselves on and looked about in search of their talking hound of a companion.

Barbas was murmuring at a lump of the broken statue, occasionally whining. Their attention was drawn back only when a new voice howled with unbridled anger, seemingly from thin air.

"_I must have told you a thousand times now, no! Now go away and leave me alone!_"

"But master!" At this point, Barbas started to yell back pleadingly.

"_Uh-uh!_"

"Look at this place, Clavicus! It's a mess!"

"_Don't care!_" The voice shouted back, sounding almost like a stubborn child. "... _Maybe I like it this way!_"

"Oh, come on, you can't mean that!"

_"La la la la la! I can't hear you!_"

Just like that, the adventure in the cave returned to feeling ridiculous as it had when they first entered. Mivani, unwilling to let this go on, stepped forward to stand next to the distressed hound.

"Excuse me, Lord Vile?" Mivani spoke in her best professional voice but still felt a bit silly talking to the back of a large stone head that was face-down in the snow. On her other side, Reyna joined her, her sword cleaned and put away now that there were no visible threats. She thought quickly of how to phrase what they hoped to accomplish. This was a daedric lord of wishes and deals. She knew at once how to approach this. "We have a request to ask of you."

"_By all means, let's hear it then, little heroines. After all, you did help grant the final wish for my last worshipers. Which frankly, they deserved! Look at my statue! They spent days whining and begging for a cure to their vampirism. Glad to see you two came along and ended their suffering. So what can I do for you ladies, hm? What kind of deal can we strike?_"

"My lord, my companion and I wish nothing more than to see you reunited with Barbas."

"_Ugh. Really? Of all the things in the world- of all the powerful magical artifacts you mages love, you want me to have to put up with that insufferable pup? Uh-uh. Not going to happen. Request denied! No deal! If you understood just how annoying he was to have around, always preaching to me!_"

The voice of Clavicus Vile went on like this for a short time, complaining about his better half. When it looked like Reyna might say something, Mivani gave a small gesture. A small assurance that the matter was in hand, and a wink to hopefully put across her silent meaning- which she hoped to convey something along the lines of 'keep your mouth shut, the Daedra Prince will come to his senses soon enough.' Reyna looked unsure but did not say anything.

Thankfully, the Prince of Bargains seemed to argue their point to himself well enough, "_Even if that does mean I'm stuck in a broken-down mess of a shrine... With a broken statue that those idiots smashed to pieces... Eh... Well, maybe there is a way he could earn his place back at my side. Maybe. But no promises._"

Between how long it took to get to Haemar's Shame, kill the vampires and assorted thralls inside, and then discuss the retrieval of the Rueful Axe with the Daedric Lord, it was nearly nightfall by the time they finished. They were setting out on a new leg of their journey, once again lead by Barbas. This time heading north on a trip that Mivani was distressed to discover would take days in crossing the county. Given how full the day had been so far, they took a mercifully early night at the inn at Helgen.

After arriving and cleaning up as best as the amenities could offer- Mivani herself would have happily killed the entire town for a proper bath- they managed to settle in for the evening. Barbas thankfully agreed to keep himself from talking, lest he draw even more unwanted attention from the local population than Mivani's elven presence already did.

Like most other inn the business doubled as a tavern, where the locals gathered at the end of the day to drink and shout in general rambunctiousness. And like any other tavern in the realm, it was loud enough grate the nerves after a long day of traveling and fighting. They managed to claim a couple of cozy seats next to the hearth where the fire warmed the chill from their bones. At their feet, playing the part of the loyal hound following his master, Barbas had curled up and appeared to be asleep.

Thankfully no one sought to bother them. Whether it was simply that they were strangers in the small town, or the ghostly-looking spider Mivani had summoned back to her shoulder, she wasn't sure. She was grateful to be left alone. Even if she could feel several eyes occasionally staring. They could otherwise attempt to relax and enjoy their drinks in peace.

Reyna busied herself with another cleaning of her sword, worryingly examing it over and over again. She had been unsure about having it enchanted, and the fact that she hadn't had the chance to test the sword in combat seemed a cause for concern.

"And you're sure this enchantment will make the sword stronger?" Reyna asked for the third time since allowing the blade to undergo magical work. She had cleaned the blade carefully of any blood the remained on it, leaving the weapon shining with a faint orange-red glow.

It had taken quite a bit of convincing before she would allow Mivani to touch her sword, much less enchant it. Even more in assurances that it wouldn't 'hurt' the sword.

"Yes, I'm very sure. It may not be the best enchantment, but when you strike your enemies it will be like hitting them with a sword red-hot from the forge." She assured again, the repetitive conversation wearing on her nerves. The man attempted to sing a drunken, off-key rendition of 'Ragnar the Red' further off in another part of the inn didn't help.

Mivani couldn't be bothered to try and argue the point- she didn't have the energy or the heart to. The day's events weighed on her mind, enough so that she found herself staring at the mug full of mead without moving to sip at it. Some moments must have passed, where she didn't quite pay attention to what Reyna was saying but jumped as a hand touched her shoulder.

"Are you alright?" The Nord asked, frowning with concern.

"Hm? Yes, I'm fine." Shaking herself out of her thoughts, Mivani pulled a neutral face over what must have been a clenched, thoughtful expression. "... Except, I don't feel great about what happened in the cave... Killing all those people when they had been begging for a cure. Somehow just doesn't seem right."

"Mivani, I know it may not seem like it, but killing them really was the kindest thing we could do. They made it a matter of self-defense when they attacked us first. It would be shameful to let ourselves get killed without a fight."

"Well, I'm not conflicted about that." Mivani set her mug of mead on the stone hearth they sat near. "She was crying and begging and... To be perfectly honest, I'm not comfortable with people getting emotional around me in the best of circumstances. I don't know why I'm so preoccupied with a _vampire_ crying and begging for her own death..."

"That was a matter of mercy," Reyna said this as if it was a simple topic. "She could not live with herself as she was, and I'm not sure about you, but I don't know a cure for vampirism once it has taken root."

"... I suppose in that case it was the right thing to do." She looked over to Reyna, who was taking a deep drink of her own mug. Mivani picked up her own, and before sipping at the mead commented, "Though I am surprised you ended up executing her like that. You seemed set on letting her go."

"Aye, at first I was." Reyna didn't immediately continue, though looked more thoughtful in glancing over at Mivani. "But you were right, what you said back in the cave. Reminded me of a dog a friend used to own. Good dog, loyal, friendly. One day it got sick, turned rabid, had to be put down so it wouldn't hurt anyone. We couldn't have just left her there. She might have gotten out, hurt people, made more vampires that would go on to hurt or kill others. It was the best thing we could do. "

Mivani mulled the thought over and found she didn't feel satisfied even though her argument had won. She found herself staring into her mead again. "Still doesn't feel quite like a victory."

"No, not really. Not this time."

They had been talking quiet enough not to draw in any local rabble into their conversation. It would cause too much fuss, Mivani thought, to let them know that their town was so close to not only a Daedric shrine but a mess of vampires. Outside of the general ambiance of the inn's other patrons, their conversation fell to silence for a time. Eventually, the inn around them grew quieter as the even ran on later. After draining another mug of drink each they headed off to bed, safe and warm, for now.


	5. Chapter 5

Part 5: Rise of the Side Quest

* * *

In the far north of Skyrim, beyond the great walls of Solitude, it was hard to tell that it wasn't truly winter anymore. Here snow seemed to always cover the ground, and only the heartiest trees and plants could survive.

As with the short hike up a mountain to reach Haemar's Shame, Mivani was struggling with the cold. Which was surprising, for how long the elf had spent in Winterhold, well known for being frosty year-round. Mivani's refute to this logic was that the college had magical measures against the poor weather, and the mages were generally kept warm and comfortable. Mivani had purchased a woolen cloak to keep pulled tight over her robes, which helped to reduce her complaints.

Reyna felt that she fared a bit better, the cold didn't cut so deep. Whether that was because of the extra layers she wore under her armor, or the warm Nordic blood in her veins, she wasn't sure.

"Do you think it was right, how we left Sebastian?" Reyna asked suddenly, breaking the silence that had comfortably fallen between them.

She was walking side by side with Mivani while they headed back down the long and sometimes winding roads north of Solitude. Barbas trotted ahead to make sure they went the right way back to his master's shrine.

"The way he was yelling and hurling spells at us?" Mivani shot back with a bit of humorless chuckle, shaking her head, "The sad sack is lucky he got away with just a lump on the head."

After their stay in Dragons Bridge, the journey up to Rimerock Borrow had been difficult. The weather was one thing- the cold and snow slowing them down. While Reyna felt more or less in her element, out in the wilds beyond the reach of civilization and guard patrols, Mivani clearly struggled. It was a good experience for the mage to try and toughen up.

"I need to go water a bush. I'll be right back." When Reyna said this and paused on the road, Mivani regarded her with a look of concern. "Don't worry, Barbas with stay with you and I'm sure you two can fight off anything that might show up."

"Oh, alright." Calling back with a tight voice, whether it be from being left alone for a few minutes or from genuine worry, Mivani's words carried over the bushes and undergrowth, "Watch out for saber cats! And ice wraiths!... And frostbite!"

Getting far enough away for a little bit of privacy, Reyna answered the call of nature while disrobing as little as she could. Her sword was kept in her hand, the tip of the blade in the snow while her head swiveled to keep an eye and ears out for potential threats. Before she could even get her leg armor back into place she was started, almost falling over in freshly-wetted snow.

"Hey, you!" Barbas, whose large head had almost been mistaken for a wolf's, had poked through the bush to stare at her.

"Barbas!" She initially took a second to make sure she was decent, before looking back to the hound. "Is everything alright?"

"Oh, yeah, no, it's fine. Totally fine." Despite having the form of a hound, it still looked apparent that there was something Barbas was working up to talk about. After a moment, which Reyna spend securing the armor of her legs again, he spoke up again, "Hey, so, I wanted to talk to ya about something before we get back down south."

Reyna's hands worked at tightening and adjusting buckles on her armor, but she looked at Barbas, waiting for him to continue.

"Look, since you're the one carrying the axe, when we get back to the shrine- are you paying attention?" Barbas snapped, jumping out of the brush to practically pounce on Reyna. He had jumped like an excited dog, perching his paws on her shoulders and glaring at her with a fierce determination. As much of one as a dog could give, anyway. "Hey, when we get back to the shrine, don't listen to Clavicus when he tries to make a deal with you, okay? He'll probably try to offer you something tempting, probably in exchange for killing me. You must stick to our original plan, okay? You understand?"

To Reyna, it seemed absurd that he would even need to ask. After a few moments that she failed to reply, she did reply as simply as she could, with a nod, "Oh... Okay."

"... Okay... What?"

"Okay, I will not listen to any other offers from your master. Why would we betray you when we've come this far? Now, c'mon, get off of me."

"Huh... You really wouldn't listen to any other offers, would you?" Sounding a mixture of relieved and surprised, Barbas did finally let off and got his paws off her shoulders. "Even if you were offered the axe? It is a pretty powerful weapon."

"I still prefer my sword." Reyna smiled and offered a wink as she finished putting herself back together. "Come on, let's get back to Mivani. I'm sure she's not happy about being left alone for so long."

Barbas initially responded with a harsh laugh as he followed her out of the brush. "Yeah, well, your friend seems to be pretty hard to please. Does she ever stop complaining?"

Reyna would have defended Mivani at this point but stopped before she could say anything. They had gotten back to the road, to find it deserted. Looking down the path they had come from, and then up the way they had been going, there was no sight or sound of the mage.

"Mivani? Are you still here?" Reyna called out, unsure whether now was a time to worry or wait. Some moments passed, with no reply except the snowbirds in the trees.

Barbas remained silent, ears perked up as if trying to listen. He sniffed at the ground in the last spot that Mivani stood at, off to the side of the road as if to give room for any other travelers. If she had been nearby, she would have replied.

"Huh. Smells like necromancers." Speaking up from where he snuffled at the snow, Barbas suddenly looked up at Reyna.

She examined the snow where her friend had last been seen, examining the smallish footfalls of the elf, trying to track where Mivani might have gone. There were her own boot prints, Barbas' paw prints as well. But instead of a clear trail of where the elf might have wandered off to, there was another set of fresh footprints coming. Beside where the tracks might have led off there was a dent in the snow, leading away as if a large sack had been dragged along the ground.

"You think it's possible she got grabbed by someone?" Reyna asked, careful to keep her voice low on the chance that any attackers were nearby. In a smooth motion, she pulled her sword from its sheath, following the trail with Barbas on her heels.

"Well, it still smells like her here." Barbas indicated with his nose in the. He paused, looking to Reyna with an expression that was hard to read. "You know... We could just leave her..."

"Barbas! We can't do that! She might be in danger and in need of help!"

"Okay, okay, geeze! It's just a thought!" Yipping back, his usually wagging tail drooping, Barbas went back to tracking just ahead of Reyna. "We'd travel faster without her."

"We're not leaving Mivani."

"Be a lot less complaining, too."

"Sometimes her complaining is warranted." Reyna quietly shot back. It made sense that Mivani would complain. The elf was not used to this harder life outside of the College. "Like the weather. It is very cold this far north."

"You don't complain about the cold! Besides, what if she got sick of us and left on her own?"

"She wouldn't do that... She would do things properly. Terminate my contract in person and such..." At least, Reyna hoped Mivani would. They had had enough time to get familiar with each other, but not to truly know one another. While mulling over the worry of her lost companion's nature, she stopped short at the sight of a few drops of deep red in the snow.

They followed the trail in the snow, as well as the occasional dots of blood that had fallen on the same track, further up the road. It looked to lead them up a road that they would have otherwise bypassed if they had stayed on course south. At the crossroads, just off the path with one standing and one lounging back against a tree were two guards that gave them a passing glance. Reyna would have otherwise paid them no mind but paused instead.

"Excuse me..." With the guards eyeing her up, Reyna attempted to be as polite and calm as she could manage. "Have either of you seen an elf pass this way? She'd be in mage-like robes, bundled up in a cloak, about yay high?" She gestured to Mivani's approximate height, which came up to about her nose.

"Probably complaining about the weather?" Added Barbas, with a more derisive tone. This, of course, reasonably, drew the stares of the two guards to settle firmly on the dog. The dog who had just spoken to them.

Reyna didn't quite catch that such a thing was out of place until after several moments of stunned silence, one of the guards slowly pointed at Barbas. "... Did... Did your dog just _speak_?"

'_Oh, right, damn. Dog aren't supposed to talk._' Reyna thought to herself, as she felt her face go blank while trying to think of a believable excuse. Instead what came out of her mouth was a slow, tentative, "... No?"

"Uh. Woof?" Barbas spoke, not bothering to actually bark, as if he had forgotten about play-acting the part of a loyal hound. The guards jumped back, startled more so than when he first talked. It was with an exasperated sigh that he gave up all pretense. "Okay, we ain't got time for this. You two seen a grumpy elf possibly being kidnapped by what I'm assuming are necromancers? Creepy lookin' guys in black robes?"

"The dog does talk!" One guard shouted with ever-growing unease. He had taken to hiding behind his companion, only daring to occasionally peek over the other's shoulder.

"We-We only just got here, just a few minutes ago!" The other guard said, his voice quivering. "We haven't seen any elves or kidnappings!"

"Alright, yeah. _Great job_ protecting the hold, guys." With this, Barbas turned away from the guards, spared her a glance, and started trotting back to the trail they had been following. "Come on Reyna. These guys are useless."

Offering a small smile and no further explanation as to the nature of the talking dog, Reyna left the guards to their own devices to follow after Barbas. There was enough to worry about with Mivani's disappearance, she couldn't be concerned with the opinion of a couple of guardsmen out on patrol. Barbas was a little distance ahead, following the dragging-trail and occasional drips of blood.

They followed the trail in silence down the road they otherwise would have never taken. Leading off the road, through some brush and trees, near a cliffside they finally gave pause. It was clear by the path the potential-kidnapper had taken that they were delving into the cavern opening.

Barbas spoke up with mild sarcasm on their approach. "Oh, great, another cave. I'm sure once we rescue her we'll never hear the end of it..."

"Why do you suppose they took her?" Reyna chanced to ask, making sure her voice was kept low as they entered the cave. She didn't dare light a torch and alert anyone inside of their presence.

Down the incline of the entrance, she saw there was no need, as whoever occupied the cave had already lit the way with fiery torches on the walls.

"Well, since it smells like necromancers and undead," Replying just as quietly, padding slowly next to her, Barbas didn't spare a look up at her. "I'd say probably for typical, unsavory mage type things. Probably killing her to use as an undead servant, or to capture her soul in a soul gem."

Reyna could have done without the explanation, she realized. There was not much of a chance to say so when noise from further ahead caught their attention. It was down a narrow path in the cave, the odd sound almost like bones on stone. Her sword and dagger unsheathed, the sight of a body walking from around the corner caught her off guard.

It looked like a corpse, long dead and mummified, still wrapped in funereal armor and linen. Its joints crackled audibly when it moved, and upon sighting them, moved faster than Reyna would have thought possible.

She reacted automatically, her own sword flaring to life when it clashed against darkened, aged metal. Barbas set himself to attack as well, growling and gripping an arm in his teeth. This allowed Reyna to strike, her sword stabbing through the chest where the heart should be. At that moment the light, literal light, that occupied empty eye sockets went out as the body crumpled to the floor.

"That was... I had only ever heard stories..." Reyna spoke slowly, still not quite believing what they had fought.

"Huh? What, you never fought a draugr before?" When Barbas asked this question she could only shake her head in reply. "Yeah, well, that probably won't be the last one you'll see today. This place stinks with them."

Barbas led the way deeper into the cave. The further in they went, the less cave-like it looked. Instead, the place had the look of forgotten ruins, with proper floors, walls, and doors. It was by a campfire that they surprised a couple of men, dressed black robes with their faces obscured by cowls. They cast magic at the duo, icy gusts that did nothing to dampen the heat of battle that beat in Reyna's chest.

The first was cut down with ease, as with most magic users they were too slow to avoid getting caught, too confident in the power of their spells. The second was pulled to the ground, with Barbas' teeth sunk into a tender stretch of leg. Before he could struggle out of the grip, or attempt another attack Reyna had a heavy boot firmly planted on his neck pressing his body down.

Presumably, a necromancer, thin and pale for a Breton, stared up at her with fear, his hands up in a gesture of surrender. When Reyna leaned in to place her sword against the side of his face, he murmured vague pleas, too frightened to get proper words out.

Reyna was not one to be unnecessarily cruel, but the situation seemed to call for such things. She made her voice hard and severe, without the usual kindness she would typically afford strangers, "You. One of yours took my friend. I would have her returned."

"I, p-please! I d-don't know!" When the man failed to reply except for a string of stuttered excuses she continued, her boot grinding down harder on his neck.

"A dark elf. About yay tall." Reyna said this coldly and gestured to Mivani's approximate high. "Short dark hair. Fine blue robes and a cloak. Likely complaining about the weather. Where is she?"

The mage's hands had snapped to her ankle, trying desperately to relieve the pressure on his neck. It was only when he finally relented that Reyna eased the boot off some, but not entirely. "Fine! Okay! Okay. They took her down there, with the others..." He pointed towards the door they had yet to go through yet, his hand shaking. "Through the door, down the pit, into the ruins... But you'll be too late... They would have started the ritual already..."

"_What_ ritual?" This time Barbas asked, jerking the necromancer's leg and growling, which drew a surprised look from their captive.

"I- what- _You talk?"_

"Yes, he's a dog and he talks, we know." There wasn't time to work through a discussion on magical talking dogs or explain Barbas' true nature. Reyna took her boot off the man's neck, gave a nod to Barbas to let him go, and started towards the door. "Leave here. If I see you again I will not hesitate to cut you down."

She would have thought that threat would be enough, given how easily his fellow mage was struck down. Barbas had relented as well, going to paw at the door that he lacked hands and fingers to open. Reyna had made it just a few paces away when she heard the faint sizzle of a spell and felt it like a cold wind on her back.

"Potema will rise again!" The necromancer screamed with a sudden rage. It seemed he had completely forgotten the position he had been in just moments before.

Whirling around, blades still in hand, Reyna dodged just in time to avoid a shattering spear of ice. The necromancer did not get the chance to repeat the attack, and by the look on his face knew that he had made a mistake. Reyna was more vicious in her retort, covering the distance between the two of them with large footsteps. With one swipe her dagger drew a wide cut along his chest, and with another, her fire-charged sword cut another deeper line. The necromancer fell, bleeding fast and dying with quiet cries.

"I don't know why you keep trying to be merciful," Barbas said from his place near the door where he had simply watched. "From the sounds of it, we don't have time for it."

His ears perked up, a moment before the door he had been pawing at slammed open. In the threshold, a Dunmer woman marched out shouting, "What in Oblivion is going on out here, Madin?!" It took to woman a moment to take in the scene, her comrades dead on the ground, Barbas staring up at her with some surprise.

By then it was too late for her to react as Reyna was upon her before the spell in the mage's hand could fully form. Her sword found its home buried in the Dumer's chest, with a softening cry the body slid off the blade.

"Perhaps you are right," Reyna spoke while stepping over the body, and the threshold deeper into the cave. She didn't bother to clean the mixed blood off her blade at the moment, where they sizzled against the enchantment. "Who is this Potema that he spoke of?"

The cave continued on, snow and the faint sounds of life- or perhaps unlife if the draugr earlier had been an indication of waited ahead of head. In her rush to find Mivani, Reyna's eyes strayed from the ground ahead of her. Any explanation Barbas was about to launch into was cut off as the snowy lip of a hole gave way under her boot, and she tumbled down gracelessly.

While her armor was good at protecting against weapons and provided warmth against the elements, the fall made it feel like every edge dug into her body. For a long minute she could only groan in pain, the wind knocked out of her and her ribs feeling bruised.

"Reyna? You alright down there?" From above she could hear Barbas yelling down at her, with a surprising amount of concern for such an aloof hound.

Reyna managed to uncurl her body, though some muscles protested against the movement. Her pack and the rightly named Rueful Axe strapped to her didn't make it any more comfortable. Sprawled on her back, it took some effort to force herself to breathe fully, and weakly call up. "I'm okay... I think... Ow... Stupid holes..."

Her senses returned enough for her to remember fully where they were; that Mivani was missing, that there was likely a full gaggle of necromancers and undead about, and that _her weapons weren't in her _hands. She sat up at that last though. The immediate room seemed empty of obvious threats, and her sword and dagger had thankfully landed in such a way that didn't end up in her getting stabbed.

"Aw, crap. Hey! Catch me!" When Barbas shouted this from above, Reyna had scarcely enough time to drop her blades again as the large hound leaped from the room above. Crashing down on top of her, but successfully caught, she just managed to keep her feet under her. "Angry draugr!"

"Wait, what?" Looking up to see what he had been so eager to get away from, Reyna spotted, glaring over the edge of the hole, the thin-faced glowing eyes of another undead. This one growled down at them, his hands glowing with the energy of a spell that nearly hit them a second later. "Oh, him. He _does_ look angry."

Barbas wriggled out of her arms with some struggle that was normal of any dog. Retrieving her weapons, Reyna followed the hound's lead in jogging out of the way of the hole, out of sight of the undead. Several moments passed, and when no more icy spears showered down the hole it became clear the draugr wasn't going to tempt the fall.

"You think he will follow us down?"

"We should probably be focused on getting your friend and getting out of here, in case he does." Barbas didn't stay while he continued talking, instead opted to start trotting down the only path open in the pit they found themselves in.

As expected the path took them down deeper, before the path opened up to a great stony room. The air vibrated, and streams of purplish light flowed upwards to peak at the top of a tower near the center. Over the sound of what had to be potent magic, rushing like a river or the wind, there was chanting. Voices calling out in unison in words too far away to make out.

"Now, if I was a betting dog- which, for the record, I am- I'd bet Nocturnal's left tit that Mivani was up there." Chuckling with his usual measure of humor, Barbas continued to lead the way.

As expected they met their foes in rapid succession. More necromancers that shot cold spells at them, sometimes reviving their fallen allies to their side to fight again, and of course, more draugr. The long-dead were strong, controlling towering creatures made of solid ice. There was a moment upon first seeing these creatures, frost atronach as Barbas called them, that Reyna was not sure they would be victorious.

But they were creatures summoned as the women made of fire that Mivani had brought into existence. More importantly, their forms melted away with a gust of magic when their summoners were dispatched. It was a useful tip, Reyna thought; go for the one who summons.

In due course, they made it to the tower, close enough to hear the voices together shouting to bring back this 'Potema'. A voice answered back, commanding and echoing as if speaking from everywhere at once, the voice of a woman. She sounded cruel, glad to be brought back from beyond the veil. Her voice soured as the summoning ceremony went on, from what Reyna managed to catch.

"_Wait... What are you doing?_" This 'Potema', offended, then roared with a thunderous voice that shook the dust from the ruined tower's walls, "_You would __**dare**__ try to bind __**me**__ to your will?!_"

Almost there, the two rushed the necromancers at the tower's base, and while they were chilled by their spells, cut them down with relative ease. There was no time for stealth or guile as they took the stairs two and three steps at a time. Reaching the peak of the tower they were greeted by the bright glow where the streams of magic melded together in a glowing shapeless form.

The necromancers were easily recognized by their robes, just a handful. There were others made to kneel that looked like regular people, bound at the wrists, among them Mivani with her head nodding forward as if drunk.

Suddenly the voices that chanted stopped, all at once. One rose above the din of magical gusts, "We have interlopers! Start the sacrifices!"

All eyes snapped to Reyna and Barbas, who once they reached the top of the stairs did not stop. The hound took to a more vicious attack, pouncing with his large form and tearing at a throat. Reyna, meeting the first necromancer who's hands glowed with a spell, sent them flying backward off the tower with a hard kick to the chest.

It was then that the spells of these mages hit her, harder and colder than any she'd experienced before, knocking any warmth from her body. At least two of the necromancers, furious at the untimely interruption, hurled great balls of ice and force at, and through, her. The spell looked, and felt, like condensed blizzards.

That's when the shouting started. Several voices clamored loudly.

"We're being rescued!" One woman, with a Nordic lilt to her voice sounded.

Another, a man this time, roared with a certain furious joy, "They took the _wrong farmer_ this time!"

Reyna managed to look up in time to see Mivani rearing back, screeching wordlessly. With her hands still bound, slammed her fists into the other mage's face. It was a punch of poor form, clearly from one who had never brawled with anything other than magic and words, but it was enough to send the other toppling.

It was quite a sight, and heartening to see them fighting back. Even bound they attacked as well as they could- the farmer jumping on the back of one of the offending mages, arms wrapped around their neck, the woman kicking at one that had fallen down. While Mivani stumbled around looking quite confused and lost, occasionally staring at her hands.

With some struggle Reyna pushed herself back to her feet, taking the fight back to the necromancers that were properly distracted now. One that found themselves scrambling on the floor was easy enough to take care of, kicked over on to his back and a blade through his chest. The next Barbas chewed at in tandem while the farmer wrestled them, managing to choke the life out of the necromancer.

As the last one fell, dying, the streaming magic around them seemed to pulse one last time. The form in the center above them seemed to have taken on a more defined shape, almost like a person, one that Reyna could feel practically glaring down at them. The lights whirled around them, like a large glow bug, before fluttering its way out of an opening in the ceiling. Aside from the moonlight streaming in from above the great room darkened significantly.

"Reyna! There you are!" Mivani was shouting, not quite angry nor happy by the sounds of it. She had one hand balancing on the altar at the center of the tower they occupied, looking distinctly out of sorts. The cloak she had purchased to keep herself warm against the northern winds had been stripped off at some point, and without it the blood streaming down the side of her head was obvious. "Well, it certainly took you long enough to get here!"

"We got here as fast as we could. Are you alright?" For the time Reyna could forgo asking what exactly the mages here had been trying to do, as it was less of a concern. She tried to look over her companion as best as she could, trying to steady Mivani with her hands on her shoulders.

"Oh! I'm doing just splendid! Some idiot hit me over the head, my magics aren't working, and I have the worst headache." Still talking louder than she usually would, Mivani's gaze seemed unfocused as her eyes glazed over Reyna, the other captives, and the cave they occupied. "Ugh. You'd think they'd clean this place up if they were expecting visitors..."

"Wait, your magics are working?" Reyna paused in trying to look over the damage her friend had taken, hoping she had misheard. "Are you unable to heal yourself?"

"Unfortunately not. You'll have to do it. Come on, heal me up."

"Well, I, um. I don't think we have any potions on hand, and... I don't know how to cast the... Healing magic that you do."

Mivani squinted at her, wavering on her feet as if tipsy, then suddenly spoke loudly, the usually polished accent becoming rougher, "What do you mean you don't know how to cast healing?! Its the simplest spell in the world!"

"That may be so, but- oh, watch out." Before her companion could topple over, Reyna pulled Mivani's arm over her shoulder and wrapped an arm about the elf to support her. Slowly walking them away from the altar, she worried for her friend's health. Behind them the other captives were following, talking among themselves, not daring to interrupt the conversation.

"Psh. I learned to heal myself as a child..." Allowing herself to be led away without any argument, Mivani continued speaking, a little quieter now. "Mother was always going on about how I kept scraping my knees when I would play outside... and couldn't be bothered to look after my mild injuries anymore..."

They found the taken belongings of the captives, sniffed out by Barbas, in nearby trunks. The others' belongings were replaced to them, while Reyna took care to wrap Mivani back in her cloak, securing it. She took on the weight of the mage's other usual bags and pouches, still more steady on her feet despite the ache in her muscles.

"We'll go to Solitude. It's not too far away, and they'll have a temple where we can get you healed." Nodding to Barbas, who thankfully stayed quiet for the time being, Reyna gently pulled Mivani's arm over her shoulder again. Half-carrying the elf, they collectively started the slow walk towards the exit.

In response, Mivani suddenly looked at Reyna, her eyelids drooping, and speaking loudly despite being so close, "Did you see me punch that idiot?"

"I did."

"I've never punched someone before!" Mivani proclaimed this loudly, with a surprisingly large smile. The oddly jovial mood the elf had was more concerning then anything.

"That is very obvious. But I am happy that you were able to defend yourself."

"... I think I prefer using magic... I'm not very good at punching, am I?"

Sore and weary from the day, Reyna still managed a chuckle. "You're not, but I'm sure you could improve with practice."


	6. Chapter 6

Part 6: A Failed Possession

* * *

The first thought that crossed Mivani's mind upon waking concerned how much she had drunk to earn such a headache. She was normally so careful not to over-do it. Her next concern was that her last memories were not that of imbibing and rejoicing over another day survived. Instead, there were memories rather like a fever dream of cloaked figures, some sort of dark ritual, and a growing malevolent presence that seemed to persist.

A distinct thought ran through Mivani's head about idiots yelling about 'summoned by words, bound by blood' or some such nonsense.

In the dim, dreamy half-awake daze she wondered if any of that had happened. Cracking an eye open she gave a lazy glance at her surroundings. It was a small room she occupied, made of dark stone with windows small enough that little bit of sunlight did not hurt her eyes too much. The bed she was laid in was comfortable enough.

Sat in a chair nearby, appearing to be dozing as well, was Reyna. She didn't have her usual steel plated armor on, but the hilt of her sword was visible at her side. Seeing her companion in such a state was enough to ease any worries. They must have been somewhere safe, secure. It was odd, seeing Reyna out of her usual dress. The Nord usually kept her armor on through all waking hours, and more when they were unfortunate enough to make camp in the wild. Her pale hair was still bound back tight and out of the way, and the short sleeves of simple clothes showed off a multitude of scars on her arms and collarbone. Some were small, clean-looking marks, while a few were larger with ragged edges. Each showing times the woman must have survived an encounter with foe and beast alike. Mivani couldn't help but think they painted a rather impressive picture.

Mivani found herself too tired to move, and her mind felt slow and dumb. The draw of sleep was too tempting to ignore. There would be time later to get back on track. They still had to return Barbas and the Axe to a certain Daedric Prince. And then... Books. Right. They needed to find more books.

"_I suppose I have your friend to thank, little mage._" Mivani heard as if a whispered at her ear. At first, she could barely pay it any mind. "_She prevented those fools from binding me to their will... Hmm... But that sense of timing presents another problem. I'm trapped, halfway between worlds. Half dead, but not in the physical realm enough to have much effect..._"

This had to have been another dream. The voice was soft but had a certain bitterness. It registered with a vague familiarity. "_You find yourself in a unique position. Your blood aided in the first ritual, and will finish it, my way this time._"

Her senses snapped back to her as if she had been splashed with a bucket of cold water. The dulled caution, the willingness to listen, all pointed to the effects of a charm being placed on her. It felt like a classic example often taught at the College- but this one was much more potent. Despite her exhaustion, Mivani could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she tried to rouse herself.

The voice, whoever was speaking to her, must have sensed her pushing back as it cooed, "_Shh shh shh, don't worry, little one. You will be richly rewarded for your sacrifice. You two will be risen, taking place at my side for my glorious return. Come._"

Mivani found herself soothed, if only for a moment. But the thought that they were in clear and present danger was too strong an instinct to be ignored. She managed to pull herself up, groaning at the effort. Her body felt weak, and her head throbbed in protest.

"Oh, you can fuck _right off_ with that offer." Mivani groaned out loud in response to the voice.

Beside her, Reyna roused quickly to her statement. The Nord woman was immediately at her side, speaking softly, "You're finally awake. Are you feeling alright?"

"We need to go." Ignoring the question the words tumbled out of her mouth. Slapping away Reyna's hands trying to ease her back into bed, Mivani forced herself into unsteady feet. "We need to leave."

The small room they were in felt claustrophobic in her state of worry. Mivani stumbled, only to have her arm gently braced by Reyna's grip to steady her. She looked down to find herself in a state of undress- just a nightshirt that went to her knees and long socks. Reaching up to touch her aching head she felt the edges of a bandage wrapped too tightly.

"Are you sure?" Reyna spoke while still helping Mivani steady herself. "The priestess said you would need more time to fully recover."

"Reyna, we need to leave, _now_! Where are my things?" Mivani feared she was not successful in keeping an edge of panic out of her voice. Remembering a critical detail, she turned suddenly to return Reyna's concerned gaze and spoke fervently, "and whatever you do, _do not_ let me go wandering off on my own! We need to leave this place, right now!"

"I _told_ _you_ this place didn't smell right." Coming to their side, sniffing up at the two women, was Barbas. Of course, he would still be accompanying them, they hadn't had the chance to return him to his master yet.

"It is okay, we will go." Reyna nodded. She may not have understood the implications, and there wasn't time to explain that moment, but she did thankfully understand that this was important. She managed to catch Mivani's worried gaze and spoke calmly. "I will collect our things. Barbas, can you take her out to the courtyard? I will meet you out there shortly."

With Reyna's help to get dressed in what Mivani felt was the bare minimum- boots, pants, robes that didn't get put on altogether neatly- she made an unsteady way out. Barbas followed closely at her side, a large enough hound that he could offer some support if she needed it. They made their way down the narrow staircase, Mivani leaning heavily on the wall, and the ground floor opened to a large temple. Right, Reyna had mentioned she had been hurt, that they had gone to Solitude to seek the Temple of the Divines.

"Oh! You're awake!" The gentle voice, sounding surprised, of a robed acolyte, spoke as she approached them. She was young, human, and moved to block Mivani's way. The acolyte winced as she tried to lead her back upstairs, "You really shouldn't be out of bed yet. Come now, let's get you back upstairs."

"Out of my way!" Slapping and shoving her way past the acolyte, a kind-looking Imperial woman who, surely, wanted only to help, Mivani continued making her way towards the door. Her eye caught on the opposite wall, in a shadowed alcove under another set of stairs. There was an urge to go there. To go down, into the depths.

"Nope, come on!" Before Mivani recognized that she had been walking towards the temptation, a sudden jerk on her robes caught her. Barbas as gripping the fabric in his teeth, dragging her as gently as he could towards the exit. "Remember Haaldir's crypt? That dead guy managed to charm a bunch of bandits to suicide? Let's get you outside and into some fresh air, maybe we can avoid a similar fate here."

Remembering herself, Mivani could only nod and submit to exiting. Behind her, the acolyte muttered in shock, "Did... Did that dog just talk?"

They left the acolyte in a state of confusion, Mivani forcing her eyes to stay on the door that presumably lead outside. She allowed Barbas to drag her out, afraid that she couldn't trust herself in the temple. She didn't even think about the amount of dog drool getting on her robes, or the possible holes being torn in them.

Once outside in the crisp air, she found her head had cleared some, though still throbbed. In the back of her mind, nagging like a catchy tune, was still the thought that she should investigate the basement of the temple. She shook her head, rubbing her temples as if it could help alleviate some pressure. At her side, Barbas was no longer pulling at her clothes but still gripped them in his jaw as if prepared to hold her back.

"So, feeling any better?" He asked after a moment of staring at Mivani, who was tapping a foot nervously against the ground. The hound didn't sound concerned, more like he was making conversation to fill the awkward silence.

"A little." Mivani tried focusing on the architecture of the courtyard they found themselves in. The rounded courtyard made of grey stone, much of it covered in ivy. High walls, two arched doorways on the far side, balcony on high, a hawk perched and staring at her. "Maybe."

It must have been only a few minutes, though waiting through them felt long enough before Reyna emerged from the temple. She had both of their bags and various pouches slung on her shoulder, as well as the Rueful Axe strapped to her back, and was back in the steel armor she usually wore.

"Are you ready to go?"

"Yes." Giving a sharp nod, Mivani's eyes gravitated back to the door of the temple. She found her feet moving as if by another's command, and muttered half to herself. "Though... I might need a moment to check inside..."

Before she could make it far, and before Barbas could start dragging her back, Reyna took the initiative without further prompting. The Nord didn't break her stride in dipping low for a moment to snatch Mivani up, and with little effort pulled her over an armored shoulder.

It took a second for Mivani to react, both immediately relieved that she wouldn't be able to follow any charmed will and distressed at the indignant position she was put into. "Reyna! Put me down _this instant_!"

Reyna's reply was much calmer, and she didn't slow her pace away from the temple. "You told me not to let you wander off, and that you wanted to leave the city. So, we are leaving the city."

"Well, I think carrying me like this is going a bit far. I _can_ still walk, you know?"

"I'm sure that you can. But I'm also sure that you will try to wander off, so this is easier for everyone right now." This came across gently, if somewhat patronizing as they distanced themselves from the temple.

Mivani found that while her head still ached, the pressure to obey that mysterious voiced eased. She still found herself on edge, if somewhat embarrassed at the current state she was in. Aside from being carried off like some kidnapped victim, she realized her hair and clothes must have looked a mess. There was hardly a chance to wash her face and brush her short hair into place, and her clothes had been thrown on in a mad rush. Crossing her arms as best as she could, trying to avoid getting poked in the face by the Rueful Axe, Mivani decided to bare it as long as necessary.

"... I suppose it is for the best." Mivani relented, eventually.

"Is there something in the temple? You were quite agitated when you awoke, and Barbas was complaining that the place didn't smell right."

"I fear there might be. I'm not sure what it is, but it was almost successful in bewitching me and luring me down, somewhere, which would have very likely ended in my death and then subsequent raising as an undead servant." It felt easier to explain now that they had gone a ways from the temple, from the source of the disturbance.

She still had trouble summoning the energy to protect herself metaphysically, as any wards Mivani tried to summon fizzled at her fingertips. Trying seemed to intensify the headache stabbing through her head, making her dizzy. Thankfully, Reyna felt the need to keep carrying her like a sack of potatoes.

"Hold it! What's going on here?" At the question, spoken by a man she couldn't quite see given her position, Reyna suddenly stopped. By the look of it, they had gotten through another courtyard and were somewhere in a market place, with a few people staring at the pair.

Before Reyna could finish answering the man stepped around to look at Mivani, a guard, by this armor emblazoned with Solitude's seal. "Ma'am, are you alright?"

"Do I _look_ alright to you?" Mivani snapped, her frustration ringing clear, and startling the guard.

"Eh... No?" It took a moment for the guard to stutter his response, suddenly sounding unsure. "... It looks kind of like you're being kidnapped...?"

"Well, if I was being kidnapped, don't you think I'd use this opportunity to _tell you_? That maybe I'd be struggling and saying something along the lines of 'let me go!' or 'Someone get the guards, this woman is kidnapping me!'" Arguing also seemed to aggravate the headache that still stabbed through her head. Mivani took a breath, trying to ignore the perplexed look the guard was giving her, and tried again, calmer. "Everything is _fine_. I hired her to guard me, and she is doing _exactly_ that. If you would be so kind, we'd like to continue leaving this city."

Half turning so that she could also address the guard, Reyna managed to sound much more courteous. "Really, this is for the best. If I put her down, I'm afraid she would run off to her death."

"Ah- very well..." The guard, perhaps persuaded or perhaps feeling that this was not worth his time, relented. He waved them off, trying to recover some sense of authority. "Um. Move along."

It was a conversation that bared repeating two more times before they could make it out of the city's gate. Down the road, past the guard tower that watched over the cliff, Reyna finally set Mivani on her feet. Wanting to get as much distance between herself and Solitude, the Temple of the Divines especially, she immediately started walking on her own. Even with her head throbbing, and her body on the verge of exhaustion, Mivani held a brisk pace down the road.

Reyna, of course, was quick on her heels and then easily kept pace at her side. "Are you sure you're ready to travel again? You still don't seem well."

"I am ready to be _anywhere_ that is not _here_!" Mivani declared without breaking stride.

She winced at the daylight and with a frustrated gesture brought the hood of her outfit to better cover her eyes. Though she had a gap in her memory she could still recall the general layout of the roads of the area. If they kept on the twisting road heading south it would eventually lead to Dragon Bridge. Turning north would go back to the caves and wilds they had traveled through. The only place Mivani wanted to go was back to bed, but unfortunately, that wasn't an option.

At her side, Reyna appeared to keep her gaze split between watching out for any dangers the road would inevitably bring, and watching Mivani. "The priestess said you might not be fully healed for another few days."

"Well, they also have some sort of necromantic she-devil in their basement, so I don't think I really trust their opinion on my health." In response, Mivani gave a short, sarcastic laugh. Her pace slowed but didn't stop.

So far her theory was holding. Distance from Solitude helped clear the bewitching effects of whatever resided in the temple in Solitude, so the further they got the safer her mind should be. If the voices, or urge to go running back to the Temple of the Divine's basements held, that would have been a greater problem.

Mivani's eyes drifted north again at a fork in the road, where they had traveled what felt like just yesterday. She asked her question as soon as it formed in her mind, "What exactly happened?"

"Oh, you got kidnapped by necromancers." This time Barbas spoke up. He had been trotting along at Mivani's other side. As they were the only travelers on this stretch of road, it was safe enough for him to speak up without worrying about drawing attention.

For the next while as they ambled Barbas told the tale of what had happened in the gap in Mivani's memory- at least from the side of the hound and Reyna's daring rescue. He described the cave- which she scarcely recalled- the cult of necromancers -another fuzzy detail, but Mivani did remember some idiots in robes that were a source of some annoyance- and the summoning ritual that they had tried to accomplish. The chilling one-sided conversation that she was subjected to upon awakening suddenly made sense. Reyna jumped in at parts that had started to border on embellished to give a more reasonable account.

"Oh, those idiots," Mivani muttered for what felt like the hundredth time that day. "Trying to summon Potema. What did they think would happen if they had been more than halfway successful?"

"They probably thought that they'd gain a powerful necromancer, use her to build an undead army, and probably take over a hold or three," Barbas explained this all-too casually. Through the time they had traveled with the hound at their side, it had become obvious that he usually viewed the affairs of mortals as trivial. "Y'know, general power-hungry mortal stuff."

With the story told, Mivani caught up, and an explanation of why they made such a swift departure from Solitude, the trio fell into silence. Barbas himself seemed mostly nonplussed, of course, though content that they were on the move again. But Mivani mulled over the information with some discomfort, and looking to Reyna saw she was also in thought about something.

Eventually, Reyna spoke up, "If that was Potema speaking to you in the temple, wouldn't it be best if we went back and, I don't know, took care of her? Put her spirit to rest, or something?"

"Ugh. I don't have the energy to even think about dealing with her right now." Mivani groaned at the thought of facing off with the spirit of an ancient dead queen. One that had been inside her head not an hour before.

It would be the responsible thing to do at some point soon, though, Mivani thought to herself. At the very least they needed to alert the responsible authorities in the area. Surely the Blue Palace had a court mage on hand that would be able to see that it was taken care of.

When Reyna continued to give her a look of considerable concern, Mivani relented, "We'll send word to the proper authorities in Solitude when we reach Dragon Bridge. I'm sure they have someone who's far more prepared to deal with Potema."

This seemed to satisfy whatever worry Reyna had, who nodded with her more usual smile back in place.

"And in the _meantime_," Barbas spoke up without prompting to change the subject, "we can take the Axe back to Haemar's Shame, and reunite me with Clavicus!"

With Solitude at their back, they were returned to their original pursuit. The day proved draining to an already fatigued Mivani, who insisted on pressing on despite herself. Dragon Bridge was still too close to the Temple of the Divines for her liking. Instead of stopping and resting until she felt fully recovered, they stayed long enough to have a good meal, stock up on supplies, and send a message via courier to the Blue Palace.

A few more hours down the road, heading south, Mivani was kicking herself for not finding a bed to crawl into when they had the chance. The hills and steep roads gave way to the wide plains around them. After what felt like half a lifetime in the mountains of the northern region, it was a nice change of scenery, and it was certainly nice that the temperature was milder.

"This looks like a good place to stop, and get some rest." Mivani didn't realize that her companion had stopped several feet behind until Reyna spoke up to break the silence.

"What, out here, in the open?" Having turned to look at Reyna, Mivani huffed a sigh and threw her arms wide to gesture to the wide plain they were crossing. "Don't be ridiculous, we'd we sitting targets."

"I'm not being ridiculous." Reyna shot back just a quick. "There is a nice rockface over here, and we'd see any threats coming. Besides, you are clearly exhausted, and I'm afraid you're about to faint."

Mivani briefly mulled over the thought of stopping, stubborn to give in to the urge to find a nice sunny spot to rest her weary body. They had had a chance to stop in Rorikstead- a 'town' which barely had a few homes and a horse to its name- but the thought of staying near so many people still set her on edge. The particular worries she had didn't necessarily make sense, even she recognized that, but at this moment she felt prepared to defend them.

"Reyna, I don't pay you to tell me where to _camp_ in the _wilderness_,"

Before Mivani could finish her snippish thought, Reyna interrupted with a fierceness she usually reserved for battle, "No, you pay me to _protect you._ So, I am trying to protect you from yourself."

"I don't need protecting from myself, that's just stupid!"

"Oh, great," Barbas muttered to himself, barely loud enough to be heard. Instead of watching the exchange, he flopped himself down at the edge of the road, resting his muzzle on his paws. "Here we go again."

"Okay, I guess you feel fine then? Healthy? Ready to take on whatever dangers we're bound to run into out here in the wilds?" When she said this, Reyna crossed her arms, sounded as if she was trying to bait the other into a sort of trap.

They had had a similar discourse in Rorikstead. This time, Reyna didn't seem to be backing down.

"_Yes_! I'm fine." Arguing seemed to sap more of her strength than she realized. The headache that simply throbbed before seemed to sharpen. Mivani did her best to breathe through it.

"Okay." Reyna gave a nod, and for a moment that sounded like it would be the end of the argument. "And your magics? As a mage, I imagine it is kind of important that you can cast spells."

For just a moment Mivani felt a pang of embarrassment. She wasn't entirely sure if she could perform at her normal level. Spells that usually flowed with relative ease felt as if they would take considerable effort to see through. Still, she wasn't about to admit that freely. "Don't be ridiculous, I think I would know if I couldn't perform magic!"

"Why don't you try casting a spell? Just to make sure."

"Well, maybe I don't want to!" Mivani responded with a raised voice. "I'll remind you that I'm a college-trained mage, an adept at most schools of magic, not some court jester out here performing in the roaming plains!"

Long seconds passed with Reyna pinning her with a thoughtful gaze. At last, she shrugged, "If you can't use your magic, that's fine. No need to make a whole song-and-dance about it."

Mivani felt one of her lower eyelids twitch with frustration that had been building throughout the whole damned day. "Fine! You want to see some magic?" Shouting now, Mivani thrust her hands towards the sky, fingers curling and shaping as she tried to summon the magicka to the right shape around her, "I'll show you some magic!"

Her spells may have fizzled before, but with the warmth growing at her fingertips she was now sure that it would work. It had to. Mivani could feel the magical energies reaching from her fingers. While trying to pull some impressive bolts of lightning from the sky, it felt like a red hot dagger had been driven straight through her head to poke at her eyes. Then, everything blinked to darkness.

This time upon awakening, Mivani was relieved to find that no strange voices spoke to her. There was, however, the slight acrid whiff of something burnt. The smell brought her back to her senses enough to blink her eyes open.

The sun was still out, though she couldn't be sure how long she had been unconscious. Looking over, there was a fire close enough to offer additional warmth, their packs of supplies, and Reyna sat on a rock.

"Ohhh... My head hurts..." Mivani closed her eyes again as a pang shot through her head before easing. She looked over to Reyna again, who was watching her with concern. "Did my spell work?"

Reyna didn't immediately respond except to chuckle. "Well... You did set a few brushes on fire..." She winced as she reported the damage, "As well as a little bit of your hair..."

"Oh..." Absently one of Mivani's hands drifted up to her still-resting head, eventually finding the plane of short, crispy hair along nearly the entire right side. Letting her hand flop down next to her, she could only manage to sigh, too tired to be upset.

"Was that what you were trying to do?"

"No... Not quite..." This time it was Mivani's turn to weakly laugh. "Though I guess a misfire is better than nothing..."

"When I was a child, there was a boy in town that got kicked in the head by a horse. He was unconscious for a week, maybe more. The healers tried their best with him, but after he woke up he wasn't the same. He talked in half-gibberish, and many nights would be out screaming at the moons." As Reyna told her story, calm as could be, Mivani watched her and waited to see what kind of point the Nord was trying to make. "You seem to be doing a great deal better than him, though. You're pretty much back to your normal self, except the magic, and the priestess at the temple felt that you'd make a good recovery."

"I don't suppose she mentioned how long it would take for my magic to full work again, did she?" When Reyna's only response was a shrug, Mivani eased herself up onto her elbows. "Where did Barbas get off to? Did he go on ahead?"

"Not quite. He's catching us some dinner. Said he'd rather have a little run around than stay put."

They were quiet for a short time. Reyna worked at cleaning and sharpening her sword, humming a tune. Mivani decided that, given the day she had had so far, it was best to stay laying down. Even if she normally detested camping outdoors, the thin bedroll offered more comfort than walking on while already weary.

Soon Mivani found herself chuckling at a thought. "Stop me if I ever start screaming at the moons without good reason."

"Is there any good reason to be screaming at the moons?" Across the fire, Reyna asked in good humor. Any tension of their previous argument had disappeared.

"If I find one, I'll be sure to let you know. But otherwise, please don't let me make more of an ass of myself."


End file.
